Reifenhäuser Kiefel Extrusion (Worms / Germany; www.reifenhauser-kiefel.com) has sold six “Evolution” nine-layer blown film lines worldwide since the K 2010 (www.k-online.de) show in Düsseldorf / Germany (see Plasteurope.com of 04.11.2010). The company said it has seen an increase in demand for five-, seven- and nine-layer blown film lines, indicating that there is a trend towards adoption of high-barrier and multi-layer films as their production improves flexibility and reduces raw material costs.

While the purchase of a multi-layer line involves higher initial investment costs, the payback time is low, due to the reduction or substitution of the raw materials used, Reifenhäuser said. Material combinations in seven-layer film production enable thinner individual layers to be run than in five-layer structures with a resulting reduction in material consumption and significant savings in production costs, since the raw materials are the largest cost factor in film production.