News

SJA Film Technologies, a specialist film and slitting company, has invested £750,000 in a coating line for its Accrington, Lancashire-based plant.

The investment comprises a variety of kit, including a modified coating line, an additional slitting machine and testing equipment and will enable SJA to produce filmic-base silicone substrate.

SJA general manager Paul Scott-Bates told Packaging News that the the new equipment will begin production this week and will have an initial capacity of between 1,200 and 2000 tonnes over 2010.

Before the line was installed, coating was outsourced as a secondary process. "We can now launch the full package," said Scott-Bates. "We're a one-stop-shop, in effect." Demand for coated film will be driven from SJA's market for traverse-wound film.

The company hopes to generate new business from the packaging sectors that use traverse-wound films, the likes of bag manufacturers.

The line, which the firm said will go online before the end of the year, will enable SJA to offer clients silicone-coated release filmic liners on materials such as polythene, polypropylene and polyester.

SJA's core business is film supply, slitting and rewinding

In December 2006, the company announced that it had invested £170,000 in a high-speed spooling machine at its Accrington factory.

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