15 March 2023

Clay Coated Recycled Board



By Jim Thompson

I seldom talk about one grade or one company, but this month is different.

Graphics Packaging has announced a new CRB machine in Waco, Texas.

This will be a game changer.

Traditionally, this grade has been made on cylinder board machines. Compared to the machine proposed by Graphic Packaging, the cylinder board technology is old, slow and imprecise.

The last new CRB machine in the United States of which I am aware was the "Sweetwater Machine" built in Austell, Georgia in approximately 1974 and manufactured by Beloit Corporation.

Moving CRB to a conventional forming section and using modern coating application equipment will change the quality of this product dramatically.

The day this machine starts up, all cylinder board machines making this grade will be obsolete.

CRB may even become a grade of such a quality that it will encroach on some other coated board grades, but this remains to be seen.

Note: Neither I or anyone on the Paperitalo staff own any individual pulp and paper stocks.

----

Please visit our exclusive sponsor, Norexeco