THE SLOVAK-Finnish company Terichem, based in the northern Slovak town of Svit, has managed to produce the thinnest film in the world. The company invested €25 million in a new production line, which was put into operation earlier this year, and created 45 new jobs. Now the company is able to produce capacitor film only 2 microns thick, the Hospodárske Noviny economic daily wrote.
Obtaining a competition advance was one of the main reasons behind the investments of this company active in the packaging and capacitor film business. Mikael Nils Ahlbäck, the head of the board of directors of Terichem, explained that modern technologies for harnessing alternative energy sources, for example wind or solar, will play an increasing role. Ahlbäck believes that Terichem will manage to maintain its role as world leader within its field for at least two to three years.
Terichem was established in 1995 as a joint-venture of the Finnish company AB RANI PLAST Oy and the Slovak company Chemosvit. It started with the production of special dielectric biaxially-oriented polypropyrene (BOPP) film for capacitors. In 2003 Terichem entered the packaging BOPP film business trough the acquisition of the BOPP film production plant from Chemosvit, the company writes on its website.
Among Terichem’s biggest clients is the Swedish industrial group ABB. Today, Terichem produces about 5,000 tonnes of film annually. Its ambition is to increase production by one fifth and to export its products overseas.
