Progroup is building a new corrugated board plant in south-west Germany, between the Palatinate villages of Petersberg and Höheischweiler. The company is investing more than 90 million euros in the new building, continuing so to pursue its growth strategy. Production is set to begin in the second half of 2023. Covering an area of 28,000 sm, the new building is being constructed right next door to Progroup’s long-standing customer and partner. In the future, Progroup will be able to supply it with corrugated board just-in-time via a direct link, creating in this way a sustainable packaging park.
«Today is a special day for me for two reasons,» says Maximilian Heindl, Chief Development Officer and deputy CEO of Progroup, on the occasion of the start of the works. «First, Progroup’s roots are situated barely 55 kilometres away. It was some 30 years ago that my father symbolically broke new ground with our first plant in Offenbach an der Queich and we are now able to continue our story in our home region. Second, I am delighted that with the new plant we are taking another vital step in embracing sustainability. The cooperation with the packaging manufacturer next door will establish close links between logistics and production processes. There will be far fewer truck journeys, allowing Progroup to operate even more sustainably and efficiently».
Resource-saving production methods, innovative products
The planned production speed is 400 m/min with a working width of 3.35 m. The production line is designed to produce single-wall and double-wall Next Board corrugated board sheets with B, C, E and F flutes and smaller grammages in all combinations. Next Board corrugated boards are renowned for much lower use of energy and raw materials and in production and transport they reduce CO2 emissions per tonne of corrugated board by 26% on average and do this with enhanced strength figures.
In the long term, Progroup is striving to achieve carbon-neutral recycling. To do this, the company is investing around two million euros in state-of-the-art, resource-saving production methods at its new site. One of Progroup’s plans is to commission an efficient combined cooling, heat and power plant. This will save the use of fossil fuels and at the same time reduce CO2 emissions by utilizing energy efficiently.