The longstanding partnership between Hosokawa Alpine and Polish film manufacturer ELA is venturing into a new, modern Machine Direction Orientation (MDO) line with a vacuum roll to produce laminating films in full PE design.
Hosokawa Alpine
Partnering for new possibilities
ELA Wyrób Folii i Opakowań, based in Ostrów, Poland, has been in business for more than 40 years and sells mainly in Germany, Poland and Eastern Europe. It specialises in the production of polyethylene films for the food, rubber and home industries, as well as flexographic printing.
ELA was one of the first customers for Hosokawa Alpine on the Polish market. Since then, the plant park and business relations have grown, as CEO Kornel Laskus explained: "We attach great importance to a uniform and harmonised machine park so that we can implement optimisations and new approaches directly in all our machines. Hosokawa Alpine has been with us from the very beginning, and its high-quality solutions have helped us grow as a company and offer our customers the best quality."
ELA has five blown film lines with different layflat widths in operation. Another winder of the AWD series is coupled with an embossing line for flexographic printing. In 2022, the company is now taking a new approach with the five-layer line with a layflat width of 2,800mm and integrated 3,000mm inline MDO film orientation unit from Hosokawa Alpine. ELA intends to produce laminating films in full PE design and thus engage further in the circular economy.
Hosokawa Alpine MDO technology is based on monoaxial orientation of blown film. In this process, the film is drawn between two rolls that rotate at different speeds. Depending on the application, the film passes over eight to twelve rolls, two of which are stretching rolls. After heating t, the film is brought to the desired ratio in the stretching phase, where the stresses created are reduced in the subsequent annealing phase. Finally, the film cools down and compensates for the thermal shrinkage. The TRIO system (Trim Reduction for Inline Orientation) integrated into the line reduces neck-in by up to 50 per cent. At the same time, the flatness of the film is optimised, and a uniform thickness profile is produced. The vacuum technology used by Alpine also ensures high process stability and excellent properties for further processing.
Thus, ELA is preparing itself for the circular economy, as MDO technology is a key component for the production of high-performance monomaterial composites made of polyethylene. These can be fully recycled after their original use and reused in the circular economy without material loss. Laskus added: "[W]e are pleased to be able to continue our successful co-operation and add a new, future- oriented element … [W}e are sure that with this reliable partner at our side we will meet the requirements of the circular economy.”