The Japanese group Nippon Paper Industries announced today that it has completed, as planned, the construction of facilities and equipment for mass production of SHIELDPLUS®, an innovative coating solution which adds barrier properties to paper. Nippon Paper invested 5 million Euros in the project. It will be produced by its Finnish subsidiary Jujo Thermal Oy, located in Kauttua, specialised in the production of direct thermal and coated-one-side papers. The company will start providing samples of this product and promote its development in the global market with a focus on the European market.
Jujo Thermal has been working on the development and marketing of “SHIELDPLUS®” by utilizing its coating technology developed in its existing thermal paper business. The new facilities include an expansion of the coating colour kitchen for the manufacture of SHIELDPLUS®, which is designed to meet strict hygiene standards for food packaging applications, with a view to obtaining ISO 22000 and other certifications. This will enhance its supply capacity and we will enable the group to develop a wide range of packaging materials in the future.
SHIELDPLUS® products are paper-based materials with excellent barrier properties against oxygen, water vapour and aromas. The material consists of wood-based fibres and is protected with a water-based barrier coating. “We believe that paper as packaging material holds a great deal of potential. It is a part of the solution to developing environmentally friendly packaging materials. SHIELDPLUS® is recyclable, and thus it provides a sustainable basis for our customers’ end applications. The new colour kitchen strengthens our product development capabilities. We are, indeed, planning to produce other types of paper-based materials suitable for packaging use in the future,” concludes Technical Development Director & Packaging Specialist Masashi Okamoto.
Under the slogan of “Let paper do what it can do”, the Company is pushing ahead with paperising solutions that help resolve social issues. SHIELDPLUS® products are paper-based materials with excellent barrier properties against oxygen, water vapour and aromas. The material consists of wood-based fibres and is protected with a water-based barrier coating. The SHIELDPLUS® series is produced by adding barrier functions to paper. It proposes paper as an alternative option to conventional barrier materials such as plastics and aluminium.