Staying at the Forefront Sonoco Alcore

stAying At tHe forefront

Sonoco Alcore, a recognised leader in high-quality, value-creating tube and core solutions for a variety of industries, stays at the innovative forefront. The company has recently introduced two ground-breaking products and secured further market expansion.

Sonoco Alcore is a world-class manufacturer and technological leader of the paper tube and core industry, supplying industryspecific cores to a variety of markets from 27 manufacturing locations. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sonoco, a global provider of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging and supply chain services

As a recognised leader in its sector, Sonoco Alcore serves customers in various markets, including paper, man-made fibre, transport packaging, construction and more.

The company strives to progress in line with the sustainability and environmental protection focus - its cores are 100 per cent recyclable and environmentally-sound product development is one of the factors that drives the business forward.

Fully recyclable

“We have recently introduced two new products, which have raised considerable interest with our customers,” affirms Mr Anastasiadis, Global Sales & Segment Director Textiles. “At ITMA Show held in June in Barcelona, we presented our new, patented EcoSPAN™ engineered textile cores to global manufacturers.”

He explained that unlike current Spandex yarn cores that use a film-based material on the outer surface, which creates frictiondriven transfer problems and minimizes the ability for customization, EcoSPAN cores use a patented, customizable, aqueous coating, eliminating the need for additional film materials on the outer surface. This makes EcoSPAN cores 100 percent recyclable.

EcoSPAN eliminates the need for additional film materials on the outer surface, which makes the core repulpable, making it better for the environment. The ultimate result is reduced costs by eliminating missed transfers and reduced downtime, which results in increased speed, throughput, productivity and profitability.

Smart supply chain solution

Also at ITMA, the company presented a system developed in partnership with SAHM - IntelliTexCore™. This ground-breaking technology provides an Industry 4.0 solution for the supply chain.

IntelliTexCore™ Textile tube identification technology is a breakthrough, embedded core technology that enables automatic textile tube inventory. The accuracy of this tube identification technology enables manufacturers to save significant money by reducing lost inventory and ghost waste, reducing the need for working capital, eliminating costly manual tracking and simplify data tracing in the complete process.

“The efficiencies of IntelliTexCore™ identification technology can reduce mistakes in the process with a100 per cent identification of the product and can simplify the complete supply chain,” says Mr Anastasiadis. “We have presented this technology to major companies and the benefits were immediately recognised and appreciated.

IntelliTexCore meets the process digitalisation requirements - there is no need any more for humans to be involved in the process because of this RFID technology.”

Growing presence

Sonoco Alcore has been expanding not just the product offering but also its global footing. Responding to rapid growth in the Middle East, the company has just opened a new manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia. “The new plant will consolidate Sonoco Alcore’s leading position in the paper, film, man-made fibre yarn, metal and construction market, and represents an important milestone in the company’s mission to support their customers’ manufacturing needs across the region,” says Mr Anastasiadis.

Another milestone that was achieved earlier this year was the completion of the acquisition of the remaining 70-percent interest in the joint venture of Conitex Sonoco, a vertically integrated global leader in the manufacture of paper-based cones and tubes used in the textile industry.

The acquisition will further boost Sonoco’s existing global paper-based tube and core business especially in faster-growing emerging markets in Asia where the company is increasing its manufacturing presence.

In August, Sonoco also completed the acquisition of Corenso North America and its assets including the most modern and advanced paper mill on the continent, as well as two tube and core manufacturing sites.

The global expansion is supported by investment in asset modernisation and continuous product research and development, to meet existing and future market requirements, says Ms Anastasiadis

“Developing sustainable solutions will remain the focus of the future,” he affirms. “As a manufacturer of highly engineered tubes that need advanced technology behind, the R&D expertise and innovative product development is one of our drivers, the factor that makes us a market leader across Europe, Americas and Asia. That will remain so in the future.” n