05. May 2021

CONDUCTO® 3322: Market launch in Spain and Portugal

The CONDUCTO® 3322 doublebacker belt from the GKD Group has been on the German market for almost two years. A series of large corrugated board manufacturers use it in the double facer as the top belt and occasionally as the lower belt. The recent market launch in Spain and Portugal went sensationally well. Twelve were sold within six months and installed on four systems.

The construction of the CONDUCTO® 3322 combines an internal structure of polyester monofilaments and bronze wires in the running direction with a warp of staple fiber yarn. The edge is reinforced with aramid. With a thickness of 5.7 millimeters and a weight of 3.95 kilograms per square meter, the GKD doublebacker belt is considerably thinner and lighter than previous standard market products. Despite the low weight, its robust design guarantees the required even pressure for optimal contact between the corrugated board and the heating plates. Thanks to the special thermosetting, unwanted stretching is avoided. The key difference compared to all conventional belts, however, is the high air permeability of the CONDUCTO® 3322. Through fast, full-surface moisture evaporation of the corrugated board, it permits significantly higher corrugated board quality and productivity. Thanks to the shorter drying time and improved processing quality, the systems can be run at a higher speed.

One of the first users in Portugal was Saica Pack Ovar, one of the country’s best known corrugated board producers. Quality problems in the production of a new coated paper required a new solution. As a valued partner of corrugated board manufacturers for technical system support, Saica asked the Spanish company Corrugator S.L. for advice. The experts are an exclusive partner for Finsa Filtros Industriales S.L., which has been a distribution partner of the GKD Group in Spain for 30 years. Due to their many years of experience with all standard market belt types, they know that the CONDUCTO® 3322 offers unique benefits thanks to its robustness and openness as well as the faster processing that these allow. This is why they recommended this belt to Saica as a solution to the problem with the new paper. The result was outstanding: The belt impressed the Portuguese company right from the start with the high quality of the corrugated board, immediate drying, and good flatness. What is more, just by changing the top belt alone, energy consumption was reduced by 20 percent. Due to the greater permeability of the belt, it was also possible to cut glue consumption in the laminating gluer by ten percent. The faster drying of the corrugated board led to an increase in production speed of 50 percent for the new paper. That’s why the company is already thinking about replacing the lower belt with a CONDUCTO® 3322 and several other factories in the Saica Group have also already expressed an interest in this belt.