Walki orders 2.56m wide sheeter from MarquipWardUnited for its Steinfurt plant in Germany

ESPOO, Finland, Oct. 12, 2009 (Press Release) - Walki Group, the leading producer of protective packaging materials and technical laminates, is pleased to announce that they are investing in a new 2.56m wide SheetPro sheeter from MarquipWardUnited. It will be installed in their Steinfurt plant in Germany and be operational from the beginning of 2010. The investment is part of a strategy for continuous improvement of the Walki Steinfurt plant. Further optimisation of other machinery will follow.

The new SheetPro sheeter incorporates the latest technology allowing Walki to improve upon current product quality and operational efficiency, bringing benefits to both the company and its customers.

The new machine incorporates the following special features

• a double unwinder with flying splice to take reels up to 10 tons
• an advanced automatic three-stage decurler providing flat sheets
• automated slitter, layboy and cross cut adjustments with non stop reel and pallet changes for efficient order changes
• MarquipWardUnited knife sharpening system to minimize downtime and guarantee sheeting quality
• the ability to sheet to register

Wolfgang Thissen, Vice President and General Manager for the Walki Consumer Board business, commented, "Walki is proud to be investing in state of the art equipment that will further enhance our ability to service the needs of our customers for sheeted, PE coated and laminated barrier packaging material. This investment comes during challenging economic times for all businesses, so I am sure customers will welcome an indication of the confidence that Walki has, as market leader, in the strong future of barrier packaging".