Mondi's Revolutionary Product to Set A New Benchmark for Natural Fibre Composites, Says Frost & Sullivan

-- FIBROMER® enables hitherto unseen levels of processability, quality, tensile and impact strength, and thermal performance

LONDON, Sept. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent research on the natural fibre composites market, Frost & Sullivan presents Mondi with the 2013 Global Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Leadership Award for FIBROMER®, its natural fibre composite that offers superior mechanical performance with significant weight reduction. This makes it an ideal replacement for polymers and polymer compounds in a number of industries, including the automotive sector.

Mondi has leveraged years of expertise in the paper and pulp industry to develop this innovative and revolutionary product. Manufactured through a proprietary compounding technology that homogenously mixes pulp with polymer granules, FIBROMER® exhibits superior performance attributes when compared to short-glass fibre, other natural fibres, and talc-filled composites.  The lower density of the material combined with the incorporation of cellulosic fibres in optimal proportion makes the finished components much lighter than before. Since FIBROMER® is highly compatible with injection moulding processes; it also helps reduce fabrication time by up to 30 percent.

"This is very relevant today as OEMs and Tier-I suppliers are increasingly relying on high volume processing," said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Deepak Karthikeyan. "FIBROMER® also enables higher productivity, higher tensile strength, increased stiffness, higher heat distortion temperature, and lower density of the final composite part."

Given these features, FIBROMER® is expected to rapidly penetrate its targeted markets. The automotive market, in particular, is demanding sustainable solutions. In the wake of European carbon emission legislations, which mandate all carmakers to achieve a target of 95g per km by 2020, as well as end-of-life vehicle legislation, FIBROMER® will help address a significant part of the challenge by making cars more recyclable and sustainable. Further, easy processability and parts integration will enable considerable cost reduction, translating into increased return-on-investment (ROI) for customers.

Apart from automotive applications, FIBROMER® can be used for other forms of transportation, such as trucks, buses, trains, aircrafts and ships as well as in logistics, electronics, and furniture applications. "The Mondi is continuously testing its product in collaboration with leading Tier-I suppliers and OEMs for further optimization and development," noted Karthikeyan. "Customers can choose from a variety of solutions under the FIBROMER® brand, which offer customization in terms of fibre content, resin matrix type, impact strength, tensile strength and modulus, heat distortion temperature, and melt flow index."

Overall, Mondi's innovative natural fibre composite offers outstanding advantages when compared to competing products and is the worthy recipient of the 2013 Global New Product Innovation Leadership Award. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed an innovative element in a product by leverage leading-edge technologies. The award recognizes the value added features/benefits of the product and the increased ROI it offers customers, which in turn increases customer acquisition and overall market penetration potential.

Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About Mondi

Mondi is an international packaging and paper Group, with production operations across 30 countries and revenues of €5.8 billion in 2012. The Group's key operations are located in central Europe, Russia and South Africa and as at the end of 2012, Mondi employed 25,700 people.

Mondi Group is fully integrated across the packaging and paper value chain, from the growing of wood and the production of pulp and paper (packaging paper and uncoated fine paper), to the conversion of packaging paper into corrugated packaging, industrial bags, extrusion coatings and release liner. Mondi is also a supplier of innovative consumer packaging solutions, advanced films and hygiene products components.

Mondi Group has a dual listed company structure, with a primary listing on the JSE Limited for Mondi Limited under the ticker code MND and a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange for Mondi plc, under the ticker code MNDI. The Group has been recognised for its sustainability through its inclusion in the FTSE4Good Global, European and UK Index Series (since 2008) and the JSE's Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index since 2007. The Group was also included in the Carbon Disclosure Project's (CDP) Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index for the third year and in CDP's Carbon Performance Leadership Index (CPLI) for the first time in 2012.

Sonja Lochner, Marketing Manager
Mondi Kraft Paper

sonja_lochner@mondigroup.com
Tel: +43 1 790 13 4975

www.mondigroup.com / www.mondigroup.com/fibromer

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Best Practices
Frost & Sullivan

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan