Industriegebiet, Am Alten Postweg 1,
19294 Neu Kaliss
Germany
Tel: 49(0) 3 87 58/ 55-0
Fax: 49(0) 3 87 58/ 55-199
[email protected]
www.nkpaper.com


Neu Kaliss Spezialpapier GmbH has been producing paper since 1799. The company owns two paper machines; one is located in the town of Neu Kaliss, Germany—between Hamburg and Berlin—and the second is in Berlin, Neukölln.

Neu Kaliss Spezialpapier belongs to the Melitta-Group, which is a family owned company with brands including Melitta Coffee, Toppits, Swirl and HandyBag. Melitta acquired Neu Kaliss after German unification in 1989. Initially, Neu Kaliss’ paper machine produced vacuum cleaner bags—made out of paper at the time—but by the time the company’s goals were reached, the market changed, which led to the development of a new product: nonwoven substrates for wallcoverings.

Both of its mills produce chemically bonded wetlaid nonwovens, and are inclined wire, which gives the nonwoven a voluminous effect. The machines mainly produce for the wallcoverings industry.

According to Kaija Karjalainen, export director, Neu Kaliss Spezialpapier, the company has begun to enter into other nonwoven markets over the last two years since the wallcoverings market has seen a bit of a decline.

“The biggest change in recent years was the decline of the Russian market (due to sanctions and weak currency),” Karjalainen says. “This hit some German manufacturers hard but the market is recovering. Additionally, Turkey introduced new import taxes on wallcovering rolls, which has strengthening local manufacturers but made business difficult for other European manufacturers. A third important fact is the amount of market competitors, which has increased during the last years, combined with less market volume which equals increasing competition.”

She says the company’s activities to build up new fields of business has opened up a few new doors for them in building, automotive, tapes and acoustics. In fact, the company recently hired a new business development manager to handle new markets and fields of business. Neu Kaliss is also looking to hire R&D personnel.

Being a family-owned, mid-sized company, Neu Kaliss offers a straightforward structure, according to Karjalainen. “This allows us to be flexible and very customer oriented. We are willing to learn and adapt our company’s products to meet specific customer needs,” she adds.

In Germany, Neu Kaliss has access to well-educated professionals, which allows them to employ a competitive group of R&D, sales and production associates.

At its Neu Kaliss site, the company also has a small trial paper machine with a width of 60cm, wire inclined, two-layer headbox, which means they can perform trials on a small machine without affecting their normal production.

“The nonwovens industry is a broad field of products, services and activities,” Karjalainen says. “There are ups and downs as in other industries. What we, however, observe is that there is a wide range of applications for nonwovens, which leads to various business opportunities. We think it is always wise to keep looking for these opportunities and make the best out of every market challenge.”