A great 2014 makes Macchi (stand B 81/C 82, hall 15) one of the main players at Plast 2015. Indeed, last year the company recorded a strong increase in sales, a trend driven by the success of its POD (PolyOlefin Dedicated) technology for five-layer bubble film extrusion. Almost 40% of the plants it delivered worldwide were based on this technology, which, according to the manufacturer, is set to characterise the bubble film extrusion sector in the coming years, thanks to the advantages it offers: flexibility, high productivity and a rapid return on the investment.

Indeed, the ability to supply a well-designed line that, thanks to the flexibility of use of the five extruders, is able to produce, in large quantities, better quality films that are, thinner, transparent, brilliant and more rigid, has been the key to the company’s success, above all in the extremely dynamic shrink packaging sector, which has a market volume of over one million tons. Furthermore, these five-layer films that have no barrier effect and, therefore, are made with universally recognised materials, are finding an increasingly wide range of applications in the flexible packaging sector, where the requirements in terms of technology are very similar.

Macchi is therefore keen to use Plast 2015 as a further opportunity to underline the level of technology achieved with these plants, presenting a five-layer POD line that illustrates the above-mentioned evolution towards applications in the field of flexible packaging and in the production of special films - such as high-tack protective films - which are currently enjoying a strong market growth. These developments have had the effect of further raising the technological development bar and have led to the emergence of special versions of stretching units, equipped with innovative solutions, such as porous rollers, made using sintering technology, and special rubber coatings and release coatings for the treatment of films that already have high tack values in the extrusion phase.

Considering the core theme of Expo 2015 (“Feeding the planet, energy for life”), the fact that the world will have an estimated 2.1 billion more people to feed by 2050, and the fact that plastic materials are destined to play an increasingly important role in fields ranging from agriculture to packaging, it is possible to appreciate the new strategic moves made by Macchi. First of all, there is the arrival of a fourth machining centre, which will allow it to produce extrusion heads with diameters of up to 2,600 mm, thus extending the current range of IBC heads for 3-5 layer agricultural films with maximum diameter of 1,500 mm. Furthermore, the company’s second production site is to be enlarged to almost 6,000 square metres, so as to allow the manufacturer to consolidate its position in the agricultural film sector, offering the same production capacity and level of quality that have allowed it to become a major player in the packaging film market.