Chinaplas: Windmöller & Hölscher to open an office in Shanghai

China's demand for flexible packaging, in particular food packaging, continues to grow, which is opening more opportunities for the company, he said.

"Customers are wanting high-end, quality machines," Elder said. "There's a clear market demand for it."

At Chinaplas, W&H touted its FILMEX machine, which is designed to produce a wide range of films with high output. This modular cast film line can be individually configured to meet different needs, extruding barrier, PP, stretch or surface protection film.

The FILMEX operates on the chill-roll principle. Resin pellets are melted in the extruders. In the feed block, streams of melt converge and are subsequently spread out to a web width of up to 5 m, then solidified by rapid cooling on the chill-roll. The immediate freezing results in low crystallinity of the film.

Being capable of producing barrier film with 11-layers or up to 17-nano-layer in a special configuration, the FILMEX can handle complex barrier film applications. Joining multiple functional layers, the properties of the single layers are combined to achieve better overall film properties. For example, in food packaging, these improvements are serving both the manufacturer and the end consumer because the content is better protected providing it with a longer shelf life, the company said.

W&H says that one of the major advantages of cast barrier film is the high flexibility in the ratio of different layers as well as the big range of the films' overall thickness.

The FILMEX can be equipped with modules such as the patented die control Profile Booster for quick gauge adjustment or with an encapsulation of film edges with cost effective materials.