Ence Acquires Machinery for the Promised Pulp Packaging Plant in Navia

Ence has made significant progress on the new pulp packaging plant project at its Navia factory . In fact, the company has announced to employee representatives that it has already acquired the machinery for the first production line in the United States, and that this line will be scalable.This week, Ence's management and the unions finalized an agreement to implement a workforce reduction plan (ERE) at the Navia pulp and energy plant. This plan is linked to the implementation of artificial intelligence solutions, process reengineering and automation, and the streamlining of its operational processes. The agreement will result in the termination of 44 employment contracts (through early retirements and voluntary departures) and the relocation of another 40 employees to a new molded pulp plant, also to be built in Navia. This project was key to reaching the agreement.

Last June, Ence announced it would launch a new renewable cellulose-based packaging line with a €12 million investment . It did not specify where the new line would be located. However, a month earlier (on May 5th), it had already begun the process with the Principality of Asturias to modify the integrated environmental authorization for its Navia pulp mill to allow for the construction of a molded fiber production plant there. In September, these procedures were made public, and when questioned by LA NUEVA ESPAÑA, company sources indicated that they were being carried out "in anticipation of the possibility of implementing a molded cellulose production line in the future."

Amidst the negotiations for the workforce reduction plan (ERE), and on the eve of an indefinite strike at the Navia factory, Ence put forward the packaging plant project last week after a demand from the SOMA-FITAG-UGT union, a request publicly supported by the Regional Minister of Science, Industry, and Employment, Borja Sánchez. Ence's management committed to building the plant in Navia and relocating 40 of the surplus workers from the current pulp and energy factory there. This was a key factor in breaking the deadlock in the ERE negotiations.

Union sources indicated that Ence, despite initiating environmental permitting processes in Asturias, was committed to building the packaging plant in Zaragoza, and that the public pressure generated by the rejection of the workforce reduction plan (ERE) was decisive in moving the project to Navia . The final ERE agreement includes Ence's commitment to launch an industrial facility in Navia for the production of molded pulp before June 30, 2028, and the transfer of up to 40 workers from the Ence group to the company that will carry out this activity.

Two-year term

Ence has a little over two years to complete the project , but according to union sources, the company has announced that it has made significant progress (it has the land, has advanced the engineering, has already taken steps in the environmental permitting process...) and has even acquired the machinery for the first line in the United States, with a production capacity of 40 million containers per year.

It will be a scalable project that contemplates a total investment of 60 million euros.