Smurfit Westrock Ireland Invests Over €11 Million to Upgrade Italian Packaging Production Line

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 21, paper packaging manufacturer Smurfit Westrock disclosed the results of a production line upgrade at its Anzio plant in Italy, with an investment of more than €11 million to introduce the Mastercut 2.1 six-color flatbed die-cutting equipment from Swiss Bobst Group, expanding the production capacity for corrugated packaging and high-quality printed display packaging. The new equipment has a processing width of more than 2 meters, adds more than 20 million square meters of packaging processing capacity, and increases hourly production efficiency by more than 20%. A commissioning ceremony for the production line was held earlier, and the plant plans to further expand shift arrangements.

The new production line is equipped with six-color printing and flatbed die-cutting capabilities, mainly producing high-quality printed corrugated packaging, retail shelf-ready packaging and product display packaging. The die-cutting equipment integrates a high-precision visual inspection system, uses water-based inks, and reduces cardboard waste through precise control of the cutting process. Scrap generated during production enters the local recycling system and is used as raw material for recycled paper.

The Anzio plant is located near Rome, Italy, covering an area of approximately 70,000 square meters, of which buildings cover 19,000 square meters, with an additional raw material warehouse of approximately 2,000 square meters. The plant is equipped with corrugated board production equipment, packaging processing facilities, a display packaging business unit and a quality testing laboratory, and currently has approximately 120 employees serving more than 300 corporate customers. Previously, the site had completed the installation and commissioning of a new set of corrugated board production equipment.

Gianluca Castellini, CEO of Smurfit Westrock's Italian operations, said the new production line will expand the plant's supply capacity for the food, personal care and retail display packaging markets. The company plans to increase production shifts to improve utilization of the new equipment. This upgrade involves equipment suppliers including Bobst, Emmepi Group, New Aerodinamica and Koenig & Bauer Celmacch, with production covering food and beverage, personal care and retail display packaging.