Abu Dhabi National Paper Mill (ADNPM) is looking forward to expanding its global market footprint, as well as retain leadership in the UAE market. Emphasizing sustainability at its heart, the company contributes towards a circular economy and has re-acquired the EcoLabel certification. Mr. Michael Shamma, General Manager, ADNPM, revealed this and much more during a recent interaction with Paper Mart.
Paper Mart: Kindly tell us about Abu Dhabi National Paper Mill LLC, highlighting major achievements and crucial milestones.
Michael Shamma: Set up in the year 2000, Abu Dhabi National Paper Mill LLC is the leading and most advanced manufacturer of hygienic jumbo tissue paper rolls in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Spread over 60,000 square meters, the plant houses 3 state-of-the-art tissue paper machines- 2 Crescent Former Machines from OverMeccanica S.p.A., Italy and 1 New Textured Tissue (NTT) machine from Valmet, which produces a high premium tissue paper. There are only 13 of these NTT machines worldwide in operation. Our total manufacturing capacity is about 95,000 TPA. Our main market is the UAE, followed by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and our export business is mainly in the US, Europe and Africa.
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PM: Tell us more about the NTT technology you have invested in.
MS: We were the first ones in the Middle East to purchase the advanced New Textured Tissue Machine (NTT). It was the third machine in the world of such kind when we bought it, following the other two which were located in Mexico and Chile. Today there are 13 of these NTT machines in the world. The tissue paper manufactured from Valmet’s NTT machine has better strength, very high absorption and very high water retention, which reduces tissue paper consumption and the overall amount of waste. The tissue paper produced by the NTT machine differs from conventional tissue paper in terms of thickness. With the NTT machine, tissue paper is even softer, extremely soft for a facial grade, while at the same time retaining good bulk. Therefore, this very bulky facial product allows our customers to reduce the number of sheets, but still have a very bulky package. It is thick enough that instead of using several layers, you only need one layer. The premium tissue paper is very popular in Europe, the US and Latin America, especially in high-premium segments like kitchen towels (or Maxi rolls), but also at international airports or malls.
Our efforts will always focus on sustainability. We recently re-acquired the EcoLabel. We are planning to acquire additional certificates to highlight our efforts in the field of sustainability.
PM: Tell us about your product line and its major applications. Also, give details about your market footprint.
MS: We produce only tissue paper jumbo rolls for different sectors, such as the facial, kitchen towel, bath and away-from-home segment. We are one of the largest players in the UAE, having a very strong presence in this market, owing to several years of experience. Fifty percent of our business comes from the UAE. The remaining 50 percent is pretty much spread between the GCC and export business away from the GCC. Since the US is considered a net importer, which means it has less paper producing capacity compared to the demand, we are currently concentrating on that country for NTT paper as well as conventional tissue paper. Our NTT paper is also highly popular in Latin America, where we are increasing our market share
PM: How do you ensure sustainability in your business operations?
MS: Abu Dhabi National Paper Mill ensures sustainability by incorporating various eco friendly technologies in its operations. We are one of the few players having a de-inking plant, which means that we are able to produce brown paper from recycled waste. By reducing overall waste, we can reproduce paper and turn it into recycled brown paper, therefore our paper can be re-used, recycled, is compostable and biodegradable. We have a water treatment facility and are planning on expanding its capacity to allow us to recycle about 75 percent of our water. We have recently invested in a new large boiler, which allows less consumption of gas and reduces our CO2 footprint. When it comes to sourcing of raw material, we only use FSC certified pulp as raw material. In this way, we not only decrease deforestation, but also help in building a circular economy.
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PM: Tell us about your future plans.
MS: Our vision is to retain our leadership in the UAE market, which we perceive as our home market. Our efforts will always focus on sustainability. We recently re-acquired the EcoLabel and are planning to acquire additional certificates to highlight our efforts in the field of sustainability.
Several projects are currently in the pipeline, including plans to expand our market footprint.
