Pilar Alegría Highlights Saica’s Innovative Ability as a “Benchmark” for Aragon
Zaragoza, 16 Nov 2016
The councillor of Innovation, Research and Universities from the Government of Aragon has visited the Saica facilities at El Burgo de Ebro.
During the visit, Pilar Alegría got to find out in depth about the innovation projects that are developed between the Aragon based multinational company and the Instituto Tecnológico de Aragón.
The councillor of Innovation, Research and Universities from the Government of Aragon, who is also in charge of the Instituto Tecnológico de Aragón (Itainnova), Pilar Alegría, took an institutional trip this Wednesday to the facilities that the Saica Group has in El Burgo de Ebro (Zaragoza).
For the councillor, this company is a “leading, innovative company in Aragon”. In this regard, she explained that the Instituto and Saica “started to work together in the year 2000 and this collaboration has been increasing; researching and transferring innovative formulas that make a company that is this important, cutting-edge, making it be a benchmark and different in a market that is increasingly more internationalised”.
On behalf of the Saica Group, the R+D+i manager, Federico Asensio, stated that “a research project constituted the birth of Saica as an industry manufacturer of paper for packaging in Aragon”. Likewise, he explained that the multinational company, that is present in eight countries, considers innovation as “a strategic pillar to be able to stand out from our competitors, develop new products and maintain our leadership in terms of efficiency”.
During her visit, Alegría was able to see first-hand how Saica’s innovation strategies have materialised in its different business units: recovery, paper manufacturing for packaging, packaging solutions in corrugated cardboard and flexible packaging, as well as the manufacturing of recycled polyethylene pellets.
During the visit she also passed through the central laboratories, where projects are being developed regarding recycled fibre, paper and boxes, as well as how the climate chambers that enable the simulating of the conditions in which the boxes that the multinational company develop to transport fruit and vegetables in refrigerated lorries are subjected to.
Currently, Saica has 48 employees in the Research, Application and Technological Development and Innovation Departments that support the four business areas. This link with Itainnova allows the Group to put fundamental projects into place in order to find out the physical-chemical mechanisms that regulate the behaviour of some of it products so as to improve its final services.
