QPPC becomes a profitable operation
Sept. - Oct. 2002 Volume 11 Issue 5 of Gulf Industry Online
The first company in Qatar to transform polyethylene into industrial packaging products has announced it has turned the corner, making profits after less than two years since the start of commercial production.
Qatar Plastic And Wooden Products Company (QPPC), promoted by Qapco, Qatar Industrial Manufacturing Company (Qimco) and Febo of Italy (each holding 33.33 per cent of the shareholding), is also one of the potentially important downstream industries realised by Qatar's oil and petrochemical industries. The company, which commenced commercial production in August 2000, transforms polymer into packaging materials such as FFS film, shrink film, blue sleeves, polyethylene sheets and other applications in accordance with market needs.
Qapco supplies LDPE to QPPC, boosting per capita consumption of polyethylene in Qatar. But it also takes 70 per cent of QPPC's production under an off-take agreement. Other Qatar companies buy 20 per cent of the output. The balance of production is sold in Europe and other markets with the assistance of QPPC's partner Febo under a sales agency agreement.
The products are extruded on modern blown film lines and all the operations are controlled by a sophisticated computerised system that automatically checks the thickness and the width of the film. Different kinds of components can be used to satisfy customers' requirements. Printing is done using a six-color Flexographic printing line, which ensures excellent quality of printing standards. The printer is provided with a controlled winding system to ensure constancy of tension in winding, from the very beginning to the end, thus eliminating problems such as film blocking.
QPPC makes FFS film with width up to 800mm, with or without gussets. Other specifications: thickness up to 30 micron, inner core diameter 150mm and roll diameter up to 1,500mm. It is possible to do embossing or print antiskid for stability of the packed goods on pallet. Packaging is done as three rolls per pallet or whatever the customer needs.
Shrinkable film is a tubular film for the shrinkable line used for covering the palletised product to ensure protection and stability during transportation. At QPPC, the total perimeter provided is up to 6,000mm with gusseting. Other specifications: roll diameter up to 1,00mm and inner core diameter 76mm.
The company's construction foil has an inner core diameter of 76mm and can be produced by first-grade raw material or using recycled material. The size starts from one metre at full open to 5m. Maximum thickness can be up to 2000 gauge (500 micron) for sizes up to 2m full open; for film from 2m up to 3.5m full open a maximum thickness of 740 gauge (185 micron) is provided.
The blue sleeving material is produced according to Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) specifications. The size is between 435mm and 2,685mm flat width for pipe diameters from 150mm up to 1,200mm.
The production facilities, located at Mesaieed Industrial Area, have five extrusion lines supplied by Windmoller & Holscher, Germany. Four extrusion lines are designed to produce shrinkable film, stretch hood, tubular film, greenhouse foils, agricultural foils and polyetheylene sheets for general purpose. In the printing department, QPPC has a four-colour and a six-colour Flexographic printer lines. One recycling line is used to recycle controlled production waste into reusable pellets.
QPPC achieved the ISO 9001:2000 certification in October 2001 and has also been granted Ansi-Rab (US) and Sincert (Italy) accreditations.
