Moorim P&P Starts Mass Production of Natural Molded Pulp
A 40-minute drive from KTX Ulsan Station will take you to Asia’s largest refinery and chemical industrial complex – Onsan Industrial Complex in Ulju-gun, Ulsan. It is home to Moorim P&P, Korea’s only pulp mill and the paper mill with the country’s widest single production line (8.7 meters).“Molded pulp is an eco-friendly material that has been attracting attention as a plastic substitute as the importance of the environment has recently been emphasized across the industry,” said Moorim P&P, “it is made from pulp, the raw material of paper, and boasts both eco-friendliness and convenience, so everything can be made from paper, from food and delivery containers to packaging and buffer materials for various household products, such as cosmetics, medicine, and home appliances.”Confident in its growth potential, Moorim P&P has invested KRW 20 billion. Last year, the company completed a molded pulp factory with a total floor area of 5,492m2 on two floors which is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities capable of producing about 120 million products a year. This investment comes from the confidence that the company has Korea’s only unique pulp production technology and the know-how to develop new pulp materials accumulated over the years.“Moorim P&P’s molded pulp products are the only ones in Korea that use 100% natural virgin pulp and are of excellent quality,” said Lim, the CEO of Moorim P&P. “In general, other companies who do not produce their own pulp import dried pulp and dissolve it in the water again, while Moorim uses its own liquid slurry pulp to minimize the destruction of fibers, resulting in superior strength and durability,” he added. In particular, the company directly inputs the virgin pulp produced in the pulp factory into the molded pulp factory through sealed pipelines and has the advantage of producing hygienic, safe, and uncontaminated products. [Internal image of Molded Pulp production mill] Thanks to investment and systematic operational management, the company has recently been recognized internationally for its safety. Not only has the company passed tests by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) to prove its food safety, but it has also been recognized for its world-class food safety management by being the only company in the Korean molded pulp industry to obtain the food safety management system (FSSC 22000) certification. FSSC 22000 is an international standard certified by the Global Food Safety Institute (GFSI) through audits of more than thirty categories related to hygiene and safety, including ‘management responsibility,’ ‘resource management,’ and ‘product safety,’ and is currently commonly used in more than 150 countries around the world. Famous global companies such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have obtained the certification. “We have also obtained the ‘OK compost HOME (biodegradability certificate)’ from TUV Austria, a European testing and certification organization, which is granted to products that naturally decompose in 26 weeks if disposed of in daily life after use,” Lim explained.The state-of-the-art facilities found only in Moorim P&P’s molded pulp factory are the company’s greatest points of pride. The process of molded pulp production includes the ‘composition’ to prepare optimized pulp raw materials, ‘molding’ to shape the raw materials into the desired shape in metal molds, ‘cutting,’ ‘inspection,’ and ‘packaging.’ The Korean industry was only able to produce products with a depth of about 60mm, however, with the introduction of the latest equipment that is capable of molding up to 110mm deep, Moorim P&P is able to produce large-capacity molded pulp products. The company is also proud of its automatic product inspection equipment, which is the only one of its kind in Korea. “With the in-house developed sensors and equipment, we are able to quickly and accurately inspect products by detecting small errors and defects on products that are difficult to see with the naked eye,” said Lim. [Composition Process] [Forming Process] [Cutting Process][Screening & Wrapping Process] Thanks to this rigorous quality control, as well as the introduction of the latest equipment and a systematic factory operation system, the company began full-scale production in September, and these efforts and the expectations of the company lead to results. The company has received inquiries from various customers, including food container distributors, large food manufacturers, and household product packaging companies, who began to express their interest in purchasing the products after witnessing the largest production scale and the latest facilities in Korea. “As the ESG management philosophy spreads across all industries, the interest and demand for molded pulp products that are both eco-friendly and safe are expected to increase,” Lim explained. Moorim P&P is currently developing a separate molded pulp brand that can easily and intuitively convey the features of molded pulp to the general public.
Date 2022.09.04