CCL opens sustainable sleeve label hub in Austria

CCL Industries has opened its new sustainable sleeve label hub in Dornbirn, Austria, completing the move from its former site in Hohenems. The new facility represents a EUR 50 million (around USD 53 million) investment and more than doubles the size of the previous site. 

Nearly 10,000 square meters in the new facility are dedicated to production and a fully automated warehouse, including intelligent computer-controlled software to optimize storage space management and automate intra-logistics.

Günther Birkner, member of the management team at CCL, said: ‘The move brings a lot of improvements. Not only is the building state of the art and provides a modern workplace for our employees, but the technology is also state of the art. The building has been designed according to modern sustainability aspects and with the long-term goal of further reducing our carbon footprint in production.’

Shrink sleeves are an adhesive-free decoration technology for bottles and other containers. The labels are applied by heat and act like a second skin on even the most unusual container shapes.

At Dornbirn, CCL will focus on the latest sustainable shrink sleeve technology – made from floatable low-density polyolefin material. The sleeves easily separate from the primary container in the sink/float process at the sorters and recyclers, ideally supporting material separation and efficient recycling.

‘Our brand name for these sleeves is EcoFloat and they have become well known in the packaging industry,’ explained general manager Jens Winkler. ‘We are proud to serve our local and international customers from our new facility in Dornbirn, who appreciate our innovative spirit, investment in the latest technology and reliable technical service.’

An example of EcoFloat is the successful and award-winning implementation with several global brands, such as Henkel AG, to create future-proof packaging: Henkel and CCL win AWA Award for new sleeve technology.

Heating is provided entirely by recovering heat generated by production machinery, compressors and the thermal oxidation system for solvents. A central distribution center manages the distribution of heating and cooling.

Bernd Schmidle, production manager at CCL Dornbirn, who led the planning and construction of the new building and implemented the latest technology, said: ‘There is also a PV system on the roof with more than 2,000 panels and a peak output of almost 900 kWp. The system produces the equivalent of 721,000 kWh per year, equivalent to the annual consumption of around 200 households. More than 80 per cent of the electricity we produce is used internally, which saves 338 tons of CO2 per year.’

The new site is already ISO14001 certified.