The factory in Mexico supports three quarters of its business in the US and a quarter in Mexico and it recently installed a €7m metalizer at the facility in Zacapu.
Celebrations chocolates, Smarties & Kitkat
Dr Walter Bickel, CEO, Treofan, told ConfectioneryNews the label business is growing in the US and it plans to expand in North and South America where it sees potential opportunities there.
“As a company, we are thinking about where we want to be in the future and we are thinking globally,” he said.
“Our plant in Mexico has a similar dimension to the one in Neunkirchen, Germany, and the asset structures are getting more similar so we have the same portfolio at these production sites.
“We want to get more specified business in terms of specialization and what we can offer the brand owner.”
Carolyn Wagner, head of business unit, Packaging and Labels, Treofan, said the US market for packaging and labeling is still growing but it is not as mature as Europe.
“We see great opportunities there to win over the international brand owners for our products. We generate the know-how here in Germany and we want to transport that to the US with our sales department there,” she said.
“With our facility in Mexico, we can support those people in the supply chain including converters and printers who want to work with our technology and we can show them how successful the market can be.”
She added, Treofan already has international customers who supply international brand owners with its portfolio of products, including water label bottles for Evian and Volvic, Celebrations chocolates, Smarties and Kitkat.
Opaque films, metalliZed, EVOH coatings
It develops specialised multilayer OPP films including white opaque films, barrier metalliZed films, wide seal materials and high barrier EVOH coatings.
Its facility in Germany, which it recently upgraded with a €4m upgrade for a five-layer label and packaging line in a €30m warehouse has been built with a view for further expansion.
“We have created a premium strategy to differentiate ourselves from standard films,” added Bickel.
“We built this plant in Neunkirchen which meets demand for our tailor-made products and we are convinced Treofan and the BOPP market will grow independently into other industry sectors. We want to position ourselves as a leader in other markets including TreoPore a microporous separator film for use in lithium ion batteries.
“To innovate we need to be one step ahead of what our customers want by differentiating ourselves with our product ie by creating film to wrap more complex containers.
“We see a lot of possibilities for the five-layer label and eight of our 13 plants produce this film now.
“We’ve always been very strong in application technology and we are developing many ideas and translating them into new products. We want to cover the segments that bring us interesting margins. The time of commodities is over differentiation is the most important point for added value, such as luxury goods and IML.”