Lawson Mardon Neher AG (Finkernstr. 34, CH-8280 Kreuzlingen) is investing CHF 13m to set up a plant for the SiOx coating of plastic film. The plant is scheduled to come on stream midway through 2000. For some time now, the Swiss manufacturer of flexible packaging has been supplying eminent customers in the food/pharmaceutical/cosmetic sectors worldwide with “Ceramis”, a wafer-thin (approx. 0.1 µm, 0.2g/m²) glass-clear, high-barrier material. Despite such a low weight per unit area, “Ceramis constitutes the best transparent barrier to gases, aromas and water vapour” – irrespective of the ambient temperature and humidity. According to the company, the ceramic barrier layer in the laminate has a very high mechanical strength and load-carrying capacity, without barrier loss, on account of the special pre-treatment given to the carrier film, in PET, PP, OPA or PE-HD, for instance. The appropriate means of production and very low coating-material costs make “Ceramis” into a low-cost alternative to all known barrier materials.

The Algroup Lawson Mardon Group, a division of Alusuisse Lonza AG, holds a leading market position with sales of CHF 2.12bn in 1998 and 30 production locations in Europe and North America in the field of flexible food and tobacco packaging.

Leaflets “Ceramis – Laminates with a ceramic barrier layer for flexible packaging” (German): PIE-No. 43544.