Actega completes consolidation of Brazilian sites into new facility, with new MD
Actega's senior management team took part in an opening ceremony for the new central location, where administrative, production and R&D activities will be located.
Actega, manufacturer of speciality coatings, inks, adhesives, sealants and compounds for the printing and packaging industries, has announced that the consolidation of its three Brazilian sites into a new 22,500 square metre facility in Araçariguama, São Paulo, is now officially complete. This state-of-the-art production and R&D site is the result of a major investment of $7 million and will cement Actega,’s position as an industry leader, offering innovative solutions that meet the highest safety standards and deliver unprecedented results.
Furthermore, Actega has appointed a new managing director of Actega do Brasil, effective October 2023. Ronaldo Begnossi, an experienced industrial leader with a Chemical Production Engineering degree and an Executive MBA in Industrial Management, has been appointed to the position. With a career spanning 25 years, Ronaldo brings extensive strategic, managerial, and board experience to Actega do Brasil.
In 2019, Actega merged the administration, production, and R&D activities of its two Brazilian sites in Guarulhos and Barueri into the new site in Araçariguama. With an investment of around $2 million and a total area of 12,000 square metres at that time, the new location had explicitly invested in new high-performance dispersion units for the printing ink production and corresponding equipment for the production of water-based coatings. Actega do Brasil thus became the largest production site for oil-based printing inks and water-based coatings in South America, particularly serving customers in the metal packaging and paper and board markets.
While the existing building was subsequently expanded once again to accommodate and strengthen the sealants business for two- and three-piece cans, Actega,’s third Brazilian site in Santana de Parnaíba has now also been integrated into the new location. This represents a capacity expansion of another 10,500 square meters. These additional investments account for $5 million and make Actega the largest manufacturer of specialty UV and solvent-based coatings as well as sealants in Brazil for the packaging industry. The new expansion particularly strengthens the activities of the Metal Packaging Solutions business with additional potential for coatings and adhesives in the flexible packaging sector. This step completes the major project and the overall investment.
Global head of business line, Flexible Packaging, Dr Thomas Sawitowski, adds, “The inauguration of our new facility marks an important moment for our customers and our presence in the South American market. This move demonstrates our commitment to the region and further improves our offerings in regard to inks, coatings and other innovative products and technologies for flexible packaging solutions. It also strengthens our capacity to serve the needs of our local customers from one central location with an even more targeted and customer-centric approach.“
Ronaldo Begnossi’s professional experience is primarily rooted in his expansive tenure at 3M, where he held various roles in lean value stream, operations, production, continuous improvement and supply chain, both in Brazil and Panama. This extensive experience ensures that Ronaldo Begnossi brings a wealth of leadership skills to his new role, as well as his proven track record for developing highly effective teams in multifunctional environments.
Thorsten Kröller, Actega chairman, comments on the leadership appointment: “With Ronaldo Begnossi’s vast experience in both national and international markets, he is a natural fit for this critical role. Ronaldo’s customer-centric approach is also a significant asset that we believe will provide tremendous value to our stakeholders. Additionally, with our recent significant investment in Actega’s Brazilian sites, there has never been a better time to bring on someone with Ronaldo’s experience to lead the way. I’m confident that his guidance and expertise will drive Actega do Brasil towards excellence in the print and packaging industry within the region.”
Commenting on his new role, Ronaldo Begnossi said: “It is an incredible honour to be entrusted with the role of managing director of Actega do Brasil – a company that has established itself as a true market leader within the print and packaging industry. I am excited to build upon the company’s existing success by continuing to define high standards for our customers and driving innovation in our field.”
The new overall site will serve as a hub for the company’s administrative, production and R&D activities. Actega is thus ideally positioned to focus on the established markets it serves, but also to explore new technologies and growth opportunities, it says. For example, the new premises will house an expert team focused on innovations like Innocent. Actega, in cooperation with Brasilata Labs and HP-Indigo, launched this novel, cost-effective technology that meets demand for smaller volumes with special designs in metal can production. Innocan enables digital offset-quality decoration of metal sheets for three-piece products (such as aerosol, food and general line cans), whilst still meeting the required protection and migration standards of decoration materials.
In addition, the focus for the development teams in Araçariguama is a market first solution – UV direct to metal. Allowing a UV coating to be applied directly to a surface pre-treated substrate with atmospheric plasma, this advanced process represents a major step forward in terms of sustainability. Requiring only a UV lamp to cure the coating, this new process eliminates the need for excessive, energy-consuming gas ovens required for drying solvent-based coatings and replaces them with more efficient and sustainable UV systems. The result is significant energy savings, faster production, reduced costs, lower VOCs, and 40% less CO2 emissions.
“Our expansion in Araçariguama gives us a unique opportunity to progress innovations like these across different market sectors. It also allows us to meet our customers’ needs faster than ever before, while keeping quality and safety standards at the highest level. Our specialist teams combined with this cutting-edge facility are sure to make significant contributions to the continued growth and development of the print and packaging industry in South America,” explained Antonio Galhardo, R&D manager for Metal Packaging Coatings.
