SEP TECHNOLOGY and support for manufacturers
Who are we
The creation of the company Novatec Industry responds to a need to reduce our dependence on materials of fossil origin in order to preserve our planet. Novatec Industry is positioned on the family of heat-sealing papers, segment of heat-sealed and printed flexible packaging such as packaging for magazines.
Novatec, through the ERS process, offers a range called SEP Seal Eco Paper, a solution that weakens the paper to a minimum and eliminates water-based coating technology. SEP is developed for the graphic arts sector as well as for any other sector.
The SEP is available in 6 ranges, the SEP STANDARD, TRANSLUCENT, LIGHT, SILENT, BREATH and SILK. Novatec Industry supports industrial users of flexible plastic films in modifying their packaging lines.
Specificities
After studying the various current processes such as the extrusion of PE (Poly Ethylene) on one side of paper or the coating of a varnish on an aqueous phase, the Riccobono Lab noted that each of these processes presented too many constraints.
Indeed, the Riccobono Lab has opted for a coating technology that weakens the paper as little as possible, and has therefore rejected the water-based coating technology, which consists of spreading an aqueous varnish composed of approximately 60% water on the surface of the paper and then drying it in an oven in order to extract all the water and leave only the dry extract on the surface of the paper. This technology does not allow all types of paper to be coated, such as:
• Very thin papers because water penetrates the paper during the coating phase and causes paper breakage, water being the “kryptonite” of paper. And even if it is possible to coat the paper, adding water to a stretched paper weakens it and reduces its mechanical characteristics.
• Open papers or those with a rough surface. It is impossible to coat such papers because the water would be absorbed by the paper as is the case for paper towels. The glue would therefore not remain on the surface of the paper and after drying in the ovens there would be no dry extract on the surface to allow hot welding. The Riccobono Group has therefore set their own specifications for creating a heat-sealing paper for protective packaging and grouping.
Novatec Industry's Heat Sealing Papers meet these specifications, with the primary objective of meeting the growing demand from their publisher customers for heat sealing paper versus plastic film in routing by offering to coat a lightweight, very low grammage paper to minimize the weight of the packaging and therefore reduce postal postage costs while maintaining a robust product. (Novatec was able to coat 14 gr/m2 paper)
The Riccobono Group therefore opted for a waterless coating in order not to weaken the paper and decided to develop their hotmelt solution and to manufacture their own heat-sealing paper. A prototype was therefore developed for this purpose and a first test was carried out in July 2022 with their hotmelt coating system. The lab filed a patent with the INPI in 2023 relating to paper coating, the ERS process, the Riccobono System Coating. Based on the results obtained, they made an investment in a fully automated machine with a range of printable heat-sealing papers called SEP Seal Eco Paper.
Alternative to plastic wrap
The AGEC law (anti-waste for a circular economy) since October 2020, “intends to accelerate the change in production and consumption models in order to limit
waste and preserve natural resources, biodiversity and the climate.
It is divided into five main areas:
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get out of disposable plastic;
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better inform consumers;
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fight against waste and for solidarity reuse;
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act against planned obsolescence;
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produce better.
It sets new targets for the coming years. It therefore provides for the end of the marketing of single-use plastic packaging. The targets concern both household packaging and packaging
industrial and commercial. Novatec is therefore positioning itself as a solution provider by creating 6 printable heat-sealing papers.
Our Products
The ERS Process: ENduction Riccobono System
The Riccobono Group therefore opted for a waterless coating in order not to weaken the paper and decided to develop their hotmelt solution and to manufacture their own heat-sealing paper. A prototype was therefore developed for this purpose and a first test was carried out in July 2022 with their hotmelt coating system. The lab filed a patent with the INPI in 2023 relating to paper coating, the ERS process, the Riccobono Coating System.
Novatec Industry has created its next specifications for the creation of its SEP range
Novatec Industry has created its next specifications for the creation of its SEP range" In order to go further in the process of replacing plastic film, Novatec has studied all types of packaging machines, in order to allow the use of their heat-sealing papers available in different packaging methods:
• ERS FLAT: flat coil
• ERS FOLD: in backed coil
• ERS SLEEVE: in sleeve coil.
All these types of paper are created to meet a specific customer demand:
The SEP Seal Eco Paper Range
STANDARD
A heat-sealable Kraft paper, which can offer a more attractive price than the aqueous phase because our coating process does not consume energy. The special feature of this family of papers is that we can heat-seal MF (Machine Finish) quality paper and not just MG (Machine Glazed) quality paper. In some cases, this can be advantageous because MF paper is more robust.
SILENT
Some customers wanted their packaging to make no noise when opened, so Novatec made tissue paper (used to make paper napkins) heat-sealable. Here it is not the thinness of the paper that is important, but its ability to make as little noise as possible when crumpled. For some applications, discretion is required when opening the packaging. This is the case, for example, for the unit packaging of sanitary towels for women. Silent Paper is also available in the colour of your choice.
BREATH
To wrap linen or clothing in laundry or dry cleaning, the moisture present in the linen after ironing had to be able to escape. Currently, packaging films are designed with micro-perforations to facilitate steam evacuation. Novatec Industruy has therefore made heat-sealing filter paper that breathes and lets the moisture escape so as not to create condensation. SEP_Breath represents a significant advance in this field. (patent application to INPI)
TRANSLUCENT
This is a highly refined paper that gives the packaging greater transparency. Many customers asked to be able to read a barcode through the packaging or to allow maximum visibility through the packaging. This paper has been developed in exclusive partnership with SWM, a paper manufacturer specialising in technical papers.
LIGHT
For packaging lightweight objects, our ERS process enables us to coat and heat-seal paper up to 18g thick, including coating (18g paper :m² + 4 coating).
SILK
Novatec has developed heat-sealable tissue paper to wrap precious objects carefully and delicately.
Riccobono Group
The group
The Riccobono Group is a family business with an entrepreneurial history that began in 1900. Today, an ETI that is more than a century old, proudly represented by the 5th generation, Guillaume RICCOBONO. As an industrial group specializing in the graphic arts sector, we are committed to offering global solutions, from printing to distributing our customers' publications. The Riccobono Group is pursuing a deployment strategy across 5 business areas, and is in particular the French leader in daily newspaper printing, its historic business. The Group has become a major player in rotogravure and heatset offset printing, for this activity of printing magazines, catalogs and brochures. The Group is also positioned as a leader in its distribution and transport business division in the Paris region and as a press depositary in the Oise region, and a major player with its Finishing division for shaping, stitching and routing activities, the coating division for the production of printable heat-sealing paper. The CSR policy is essential in all of the Group's strategic decisions. The purpose of "enabling transmission to as many people as possible" reflects the strong commitment to social, societal, environmental and democratic approaches.
The LAB
The culture of innovation and the dynamism of the Group has been supported by the internal department for many years. "Lab Riccobono" led by our Industrial Director in collaboration with various technicians from the different business areas. This Lab aims to: develop technological monitoring, internal incubation accelerate innovation projects carried out by the Group. The Riccobono Lab with Novatec Industry continues its research and works on new types of heat-sealing paper that correspond to specific market demands in terms of new paper properties.
Coating pole
The Coating Division, inspired by the culture of innovation and by the internal R&D department, the Riccobono LAB, represents the Riccobono Group's business division for the production of printable heat-sealing papers from 14 gr even on open papers, via the Novatec Industry production center. The creation of the coating division supports a targeted diversification of the Riccobono Group and is especially attentive to the needs of the graphic arts ecosystem (to meet the growing demand for heat-sealing paper versus plastic film within routing activities), and other sectors of activity to enable the transformation of plastic packaging into paper packaging for the logistics and protection of their products. The coating division has chosen to look at the problem of replacing plastic film with paper from another angle. Instead of looking for the miracle coating solution that would give the paper all the barrier characteristics of the film: grease, water, oxygen barriers, Novatec has chosen to make a heat-sealing paper that provides the functionality that the customer needs. Novatec therefore meets a large part of the mechanical and thermal constraints of flexible packaging, such as: low thickness, transparency, absence of noise, colors, water barrier but also micro-perforations present in certain packaging.
Commitments
Labels
Novatec Industry files its patents with the INPI in order to protect all of its production processes and also its product ranges.
Environment
The creation of the Novatec Industry company responds to a need to reduce our dependence on materials of fossil origin in order to preserve our planet.
The Novatec center’s solutions are recyclable within the paper recycling sector: CTP certification.
The ongoing search for reductions in paper thickness is part of an eco-design approach to packaging.
We also optimize the widths of the reels upstream in order to generate the minimum of waste in production.
Our process does not consume water because we consider it an essential resource to be preserved. Our ERS is not energy-intensive and consumes very little energy.
The Riccobono Group is CSR certified by the Positive Company label. The label highlights several strong points of the Group's CSR approach, including: Eco-design and energy saving, and innovation with the Riccobono Lab in search of sustainable solutions.
Partners
News
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Contact
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