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Vice s.r.l. was among the first to introduce safe liquid borax to the market. Currently, about 80% of European corrugated cardboard manufacturers use this additive, the product Vice registered at Reach as Fix Onda. We are on Zoom with Omar Mori, co-owner of the company
How did you come up with this idea, Omar?
Vice was born in 1999. Our first idea was to research, produce and supply chemical auxiliaries for paper mills. Then our clients asked us to make products for the corrugated board industry, and now this is our main business, although we still produce for paper mills.
Vice has a 2,000 sqm production facility and a 500 sqm warehouse near Treviso (close to Venice). There’s another large warehouse in Poland. They are strategic positions allowing us to reach many European countries. We also sell our products to other parts of the world, including North Africa and Western Asia.
Tell us about your products, how do they help your customers in the production of corrugated board? Which of these products are the most popular?
We currently have a large portfolio of products, from oils to additives, among which Fix Onda is a bestseller. Fix Onda is a substitute for powdered borax, a liquid and safe product. We are one of the first companies to introduce it to the market and still one of the few in Europe to produce it directly in this sector. Today, about 80% of European manufacturers use liquid borax.
Vice has a new 150 sqm R&D lab, recently expanded, where we test all of our products before selling them to guarantee their quality. We make every effort to ensure that everything we produce is environmentally friendly and comply with the current national and international regulations.
This year our laboratory has been equipped with a highly sensitive rheometer capable of operating in a collaborative way with a Raman spectroscope: with the rheometer it is possible to simulate very precisely the fluid dynamic conditions of the glue at every point of the system and thus obtain the rheological information needed to improve the development of our additives.
With the Raman spectroscope it is also possible to obtain information on the chemical transformations that are promoted by a particular additive added to the glue. This type of investigation can be performed both on glues supplied by the customer and on glues standardized in our laboratories, so as to be able to predict the effects of each new additive before application in the plant.
Who are your main clients, are there any global companies among them?
Of course, we supply our products to many European plants such as Smurfit Kappa, International Paper, DS Smith, Palm, Model, VPK, Stora Enso, Rossmann, Schumacher, Hinojosa, Saica and many others.
Sorry if we didn’t mention someone, otherwise the list would have been too long… but you are surely just as important to us as the ones mentioned.
How do you keep in touch with your clients?
We have a technical team that visits our customers very often, trying to find solutions to any possible problem. Most of our research starts with the request of our customers, who may have problems with bonding, sustainability of the production process, etc.
Last year, a big topic in Europe was raw materials such as paper and starch. We have studied how to help our clients replace starch in their adhesive recipes by modifying their formulations with some of our additives.
Another problem in the industry is powdered borax, which is dangerous, and every customer is looking for how to solve it. We are ready to give them a solution with liquid borax or without borax at all. Of course, all these solutions are environmentally friendly.
What do you see on the corrugated board market today, what do you think about its prospects?
The market slowed down last year, partly because of the terrible things happening in your country right now (Ukraine. – Ed.). This had many consequences, including for the operation of companies due to the energy crisis. Therefore, we really hope for the future, firstly, that the war will stop and you will get out of this situation safely, we want you to know that you have our full support.
Then, we have no doubt that after the crisis, the corrugated board sector will resume its growth, in particular, continue to displace plastic, because corrugated board packaging is the future.
Thank you. Will you come to Munich next week?
Yes, we won’t miss it, our stand is #2730. At CCE, we will be presenting new glue additives, as well as meeting with our official reseller and potential customers. There is a large area where we could expand our sales, especially in Northern Europe.
gofro.expert
