Page 1 of 3

Sappi Europe

Sappi Europe SA
Chaussée de la Hulpe 166
1170 Brussels
BELGIUM
Tel +32 (0)2 676 97 00

Page 1 of 3

Press release

Alfeld, 4May 2017

On top with Fusion Topliner

Sappi’s white coated liners offer new possibilities for corrugated board applications

Thanks to its Fusion Topliner virgin fibre line, Sappi continues to be a pioneer in white coated liners for corrugated board applications. Given that Fusion Topliner is produced from one hundred percent bleached virgin fibres, it offers visual benefits as well as considerable strength advantages. At Interpack 2017, Sappi will be presenting new lower paper weights in its Fusion Topliner product line. Thanks to the lower weight, the grammage of 115 g/m2 delivers weight savings while retaining very high strength values.Sappi’s Fusion Topliner is recommended for applications where high visual quality is required, when lightweight packaging and finer fluting are desired and when flexible and customised print runs are to be produced using digital and flexographic printing. When food safety is involved, thanks to its 100% virgin fibres combined with functional barriers, a new level of safety can be achieved with Fusion Topliner.

Comparison of liners

When choosing the best liner for corrugated board applications, it pays to closely compare kraftliners, testliners and virgin fibre liners for each specific application. The surface quality and strength of virgin fibre liners clearly distinguish them from kraftliners and testliners. The bright white colour is certain to provide extraordinary colour brilliance and a great shelf impact. In many applications where the visible surface advantages are paramount, use of a virgin fibre liner is clearly the better choice. This is why a growing number of processors are using virgin fibre liners in order to impress their customers and deliver greater appeal in the retail environment. A virgin fibre liner like Fusion Topliner achieves the same material strength as test liners, with a lower weight per unit surface area. If the total costs are considered (TCO =Total Cost of Ownership), virgin fibre liners represent a real alternative to the double-coated topliners that are commonly used.

This opens up new possibilities for corrugated board applications, especially for higher quality consumer goods packaging. The increased demand for Fusion Topliner has prompted Sappi to increase its production to a second production site in Ehingen. This ensures a rapid and reliable supply of deliveries to all customers.

Post-print prints on the rise

These days most corrugated board packaging is printed with flexography. Flexographic pre-printing has historically been the dominant method. However, over the last few years, flexographic post-printing has grown considerably. Given the trend of smaller print runs and demand for very fast cycle times and customised packaging, there is growing interest in post-printing. Increasingly, liners are laminated on without printing and then printed. Small runs can therefore be produced more economically and with greater flexibility.

Essentially, in the case of flexographic post-print, it is important that the liner displays as little rippling as possible after lamination and excellent flatness. Tests have shown that, above a grammage of 115 g/m2, Fusion Topliners deliver very positive results in the post-print process regardless of the printing method selected. The material’s capacity for printing without streaks is impressive. In terms of the printing results achieved, virgin fibre liners such as Fusion Topliner are delivering excellent quality with flexographic, offset and digital printing technologies.

# # #

For more information, please contact:

Sappi Europe: Sappi Alfeld GmbH

  • Wiebke Perrey, Marketing Communications Specialist

Tel.: +49 (0) 518177 220 – Email:

  • PR contact: Jony Maesele - duomedia

Tel.: +32 487 98 21 60 – Email:

About Sappi
Sappi Europe SA is the leading European producer of coated fine paper used in premium magazines, catalogues, books and high-end print advertising. The company has its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Sappi Europe is renowned for innovation and quality. Its graphic paper brands include Magno™, Quatro™, Vantage™, Royal, Galerie™ and GalerieArt™ ranges. Algro®, Leine®, Parade® and Fusion® are the brands for innovative solutions of speciality papers and boards.
Sappi papers are produced in mills accredited with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification and EMAS registration for all our mills in the EU. Sappi European mills hold chain-of-custody certification under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) and/or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC™) schemes.Sappi Europe SA is a division of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with 12,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries, sales offices in 50 countries, and customers in over 150 countries around the world. Learn more about Sappi at