paper giant saica takes a new step to strengthen its industrial structure The year it celebrated its 80th anniversary. Aragonese company with more than 100 factories spread over 11 countries will invest more than 100 million euros in one factory for the packaging department corrugated cardboard (Saica Pack), where will it be located Sant Esteve Sesrovires (Barcelona). Like this, will reorganize its activities. in this Catalan province where it currently operates two factories (in El Prat and Barcelona). Production of both will be merged in its new locationIt is located in the Can Margarit industrial site of the aforementioned municipality and currently has a product warehouse. Work is expected to begin this summer. and installation of the first machines by the end of 2024.
The new factory will allow Saica “To accompany the growth of its customers and to meet the changing needs of the market”As well as overcoming the space and age limitations of its existing facilities, as explained by the company in a statement on Tuesday. This investment also represents a significant reinforcement of the group’s “long-term presence and commitment with the main national packaging market and Catalan customers”.
Specializing in recycled paper-based packaging solutions, the company bought the land in 2010 and took an active role in the promotion of the polygon occupied by important companies today. It started its activities in 2018 by completing the construction at this location.
careful planning
Miguel Arévalo, responsible for the project and managing director of Saica Pack El Prat, explains: “It wasn’t easy to develop a plot of this size so far from Barcelona”. “Being close to our customers and key communication nodes is the result of careful long-term planning,” he adds. “Our growth potential in this new location is very high, which is limited by the lack of space in our existing factories,” he explains.
“It is an important day for Saica because this market is very important for us,” Arévalo says of the facility’s features. The new factory will have the latest technology to combine flexography and make it upand will make remarkable progress “as a result of the digitization offered to our customers”. “It will allow us to achieve the challenging goals of quality and service.it is what our strategic plan creates and sets us apart at the beginning of the market”. “Due to its size and technology, the new facility will become a national and European benchmark. packaging sustainable,” he concludes.
Gradual production transfer
Meanwhile, Enric Carbonell, mayor of Sant Esteve Sesrovires, since 2007 “we are working hard for Saica Pack to find a good place here to meet its industrial needs”, because its implementation meant: “Diversifying economic activity in an area where logistics occupies a large part of industrial areas”. “It wasn’t an easy management back then, but today we have to congratulate ourselves for making a good decision back then,” he says.
The councilor adds that the Saica announcement “takes on a lot of meaning today.” To complete the development of the Can Margarit industrial site, Increased industrial activity “as an employment generator and a catalyst for the advancement of pending infrastructures in the region”.
Existing facilities in Barcelona and El Prat will continue to operate They will provide uninterrupted service continuity until the new factory, to which they will gradually transfer their production, is opened. Workers of both factories (194 and 100 workers, respectively) and its representatives participate in this transition process and the transfer is proposed.
“We are working We hope to have opportunities for everyone in the new organization and the current staff.”provides Arevalo. “This is a growth project and we will keep workers’ legal representatives informed of its progress,” he says.
The Saica group is one of Europe’s leading companies in the production of recycled paper for corrugated board. annual production capacity of 3.3 million tons. With more than 10,000 employees and a presence in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Turkey, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United States and Poland, it has four business lines: manufacturing recycled paper for corrugated board (Saica Kagit) produces waste management and environmental services (Saica Natur), corrugated cardboard packaging (Saica Pack) and flexible packaging (Saica Flex).
The company’s turnover reached 4,394 million euros last year, 22% more than in 2021 (3,598 million).