One of South-East Asia’s leading manufacturers of printed packaging has chosen Vetaphone corona technology for its Fuji Kikai laminator. TPN FlexPak, which is part of the giant Thung Hua Sinn Group (THS), is based along with its sister Group companies on a vast 130,000m² site on the Wellgrow Industrial Park at Chachoengsao, around one hour’s drive from Bangkok.
THS was established in 1953 and is still in family ownership. Over the years it has launched new production companies under the Group umbrella, including TPN Medical Packaging, TPN Food Packaging, TPN Packaging, and TPN FlexPak, the latter in 1999. Today the Group employs 1250 people and like so many companies of its type in Asia offers a complete package of products and services from extrusion to finished flexible packaging products, including printing, and converting.
The Group is internationally renowned as a trusted supplier of tight tolerance, high-quality labels, paperboard, and flexible packaging products for a variety of sectors in the consumer goods market bath at home and overseas. Production lines are both highly automated and integrated to offer single-source supply, and printing is carried out on a bank of the latest offset, flexo, gravure and digital presses that are generally replaced every five years.
With more than 60 years’ experience and over 200 premium customers to serve, THS is both an award-winning company and a discerning customer for those manufacturers looking to supply technology. With a preference for high-quality machinery to meet the demands of its portfolio of the world’s leading brands, it is no surprise to see Windmöller & Hölscher (W&H), Nordmeccanica, and Fuji Kikai technology on the production floor.
According to Assistant Managing Director, Suebsak Koochaiyanon: “With brands like Nestlé and Kleenex to satisfy, only the best is good enough.” So, when it came to specifying a corona treatment supplier for FlexPak’s new laminator, the original inventors, Vetaphone, was the preferred choice. In fact, the company now has three of its treaters onsite, two on the laminator and one on a blown film extruder. Used mainly for laminating 12-micron PET to 7-micron aluminium foil, FlexPak runs the line at 250m/min on predominantly 600mm wide webs, although the Vetaphone system is actually a 1.3m VE1C-D 1420 treater with six ceramic electrodes with an iCorona 2UL 8kW generator.
Asked why Vetaphone was chosen in preference to alternative corona manufacturers, and FlexPak has plenty of experience with others, Mr Koochaiyanon explained: “Vetaphone treaters are much easier to maintain and service than any other type. The way the electrode cartridge slides-out and back in allows the operator easy access for cleaning, which we can do offline if we want to. It has better electrodes, better heat transfer, better cooling and has reduced our overall costs – it’s just better all-round!”
FlexPak provides some of the most innovative flexible packaging in the industry using the latest technology to ensure quality and create additional value in terms of efficiency and productivity for its customers. Flexibility is key in this, and the Group’s operations are all fully integrated food grade process, even for non-food applications. All facilities are 100 percent enclosed and GMP-controlled, as well as G7, ISO 12647-2 accredited, and GMI rated for Target, Sears, and Walgreens.
Speaking for Vetaphone, Sales Manager for Asia-Pacific, Holger Selenka stated: “To have such a prestigious customer as the THS Group is testimony to the quality of Vetaphone technology and the pro-active efforts of our local agent S.K.Y. Engineering, which supplies the first-class sales and support that is essential for FlexPak – and we look forward to growing our business with them.”
