Innovia Films Opens New Label, Packaging Coex-film Line in Germany

Published: April 28, 2025

Innovia Films, a provider of BOPP-film substrates for labels, graphics, packaging and tobacco, has opened a new US$80-million line for specialty films at its Schkopau site near Leipzig in Germany. The 8-8-meter-wide line can produce 15- to 50-micron films with a capacity of 35,000 tonnes/yr and is strategically located centrally in Europe next to many large customers.

“The Linear Motor Simultaneous Stretching Machine (LISIM) is a technology developed by Brückner Maschinenbau GmbH & Co.KG for the production of simultaneously oriented polymer films,” says Günther Birkner, president of Innovia. “There are several benefits for our customers including balanced orientation, which means that film properties are equal in machine and transverse direction; this is important for many applications in labels and packaging. Moreover, the products have enhanced optical properties, optionally functional skin layers, and material and energye fficiency in order to reduce our carbon footprint.”

The investment is part of the company strategy to focus on sustainable materials for the label industry as part of its “Better Future” material-science strategy. Thinner materials equal more material efficiency and a lower carbon footprint for the end product, which supports the carbon-reduction strategy of major brands looking to introduce sustainable packaging into the market.

The LISIM® technology allows extrusion of high-quality simultaneously stretched film in faster and more flexible production. “We can achieve excellent film properties with this technology – better film quality for value added products,” explains Giuseppe Ronzoni, gm-Innovia Films in Schkopau. “In addition to that, the LISIM technology is significantly more energy efficient than other extrusion technologies for BOPP film, which, of course, leads to an overall smaller carbon footprint of the finished product itself.”

The portfolio of products that will be produced on the new line will range from pressure-sensitive facestock films for labels to flexible packaging films for mono-material retort constructions, for example. “The result is thinner labels for consumer products such as shampoo labels, for example, that will help reduce packaging, which is also in the scope of PPWR,” adds Lucija Kralj, business unit dir.-Labels at Innovia.