Our History
- 1492…1956…The roots : From Arches to Arjomari
- 1957…From bank notes to abrasive backings
- 1968… ARJOMARI-PRIOUX : the year of the high temperature paper backing
- 1975… The first paper with barrier properties
- 1989… The product range grows to antistatic papers
- 1990… ARJOWIGGINS APPLETON
- 1994-1996… A new paper machine THE AR8
- 2003… Arjowiggins’ global solution : THE A SOLUTION
- 2004… Trendy latex backings
- 2006… Papers for ever finer grits
- 2007… 50 years of experience
- 2007… The paper with reinforced dimensional stability : ARJONODUST B RDS
- 2008… Super heavy weight papers : ARJONODUST B 525 g/m²
- 2009... ARJOCLOTH
- 2010… A new dimension : From Abrasive Paper Backing Expert to Abrasive Global Backing Expert
1492…1956…The roots : From Arches to Arjomari
The Abrasive Backing Activity is based mainly at one of the oldest paper mill of Arjowiggins’group in the East of France, the emblematic Arches plant, whose roots go back to 1492.
In the middle of the 20th century there was four competing paper mills that manufactured sophisticated paper products with high added value, especially security papers (banknotes, passports, etc.). A joint merger plan was drawn up in 1954 and led to the formation of the first French paper-manufacturing group: ARJOMARI. The name of the group came from the first two letters of the names of the paper mills participating in the merger : Arches, Johannot, Marais, Rives.
More > The Arches paper mill
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1957…From bank notes to abrasive backings
During the recovery period after the war, the demand for industrial papers increased rapidly. Through the impulsion of Etienne Perrigot and his son-in-law Alex Carrelet, the Arches plant diversifies its production to industrial papers such as filter, decorative or abrasive backing papers.
The paper machine AR4, formerly dedicated to the manufacturing of stamps and bank notes, started the production of our first Abrasive paper in 1957 : the 3804, a 210 g/m².
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1968… ARJOMARI-PRIOUX : the year of the high temperature paper backing
The PRIOUX company joined ARJOMARI, and the group became ARJOMARI-PRIOUX, one of the first and foremost global paper-manufacturing group.
The same year, the first abrasive base paper resistant to high temperatures and allowing the use of phenolic resins was launched : the HT paper.
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1975… The first paper with barrier properties
The first heavy weight abrasive base paper with barrier properties, allowing the use of aggressive resins was launched : the HTB paper.
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1989… The product range grows to antistatic papers
In 1989, Arjowiggins launched the first antistatic papers. Integrated later in our Brown Line, these papers are submitted to a treatment to make them conductive and provide a solution for the wood industry to reach such properties as :
- Reduced clogging of the belt
- Clean machines and pieces
- Safe and clean workshop atmosphere
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1990… ARJOWIGGINS APPLETON
ARJOMARI merged with an Anglo-American paper manufacturer WIGGINS TEAPE APPLETON to become ARJO WIGGINS APPLETON (AWA); the resulting company became number 1 worldwide in the production of high added value papers.
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1994-1996… A new paper machine THE AR8
In 1994 began in Arches the construction of a new paper machine, The AR8, designed to supply the coated abrasive market, saw its first piece of paper arriving at the winding machine on April 29th, 1996.
From this point, the abrasive production was structured as a Business Unit on its own.
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2003… Arjowiggins’ global solution : THE A SOLUTION
In 2003, the launch of THE A SOLUTION made service and expertise the new backup of Arjowiggins' name. THE A SOLUTION global concept has allowed Arjowiggins to become a major player on the market.
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2004…Trendy latex backings
2004 is a milestone for significative sales and productions of latex paper backings since the Abrasive Business Creation.
This success is highly linked to an additional investment for online regulation and control of color on AR8, which allowed Arjowiggins to become a major player on the latex paper market with an extensive color range in its Blue Line.
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2006… Papers for ever finer grits
In 2006 Arjowiggins launched a new generation antistatic and non antistatic backings, for very fine grits coated abrasives.
ARJOSMOOTH, ARJOSMOOTH SB, ARJOSTAT B, ARJOSTAT SB have regular and very smooth surfaces which drastically reduce any blotching effects. Their additional barriers B and SB also improve coating efficiency and reduce the risk of resin penetration.
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2007… 50 years of experience
In 2007 Arjowiggins celebrated the 10 000th ton of production on paper machine AR8 and 50 years of history.
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2007… The paper with reinforced dimensional stability : ARJONODUST B RDS
Arjowiggins offers a new option : The RDS consists in integrating special reinforced fibers to improve the dimensional stability of the coated abrasive belts in any humidity conditions during conversion or final use.
Available in our Brown Line for ARJONODUST B papers the RDS is a solution for key issues very often faced with long, wide and segmented coated abrasive paper belts used in the wood and panel industries.
2008… Super heavy weight papers : ARJONODUST B 525 g/m²
Arjowiggins' cross-knowledge lead to the launch of an innovative and cost-competitive alternative designed to replace traditional combinations : The super heavy weight ARJONODUST B paper.
Resulting from the lamination of two antistatic paper backings, our 525 gsm paper provides higher stiffeness, flatness and tear strength properties compared to the standard paper backing weights. The ARJONODUST B 525 gsm paper is part today of our Brown Line paper offer.
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2009... ARJOCLOTH
ARJOCLOTH are cloth backings designed by Arjowiggins for the production of high quality coated abrasives. Their unique design is the result of our substantial and extensive abrasive knowledge combined with the textile experience and the newest production technology of our European cloth finishing partner.
The ARJOCLOTH range is targeted to serve in an appropriate way all important abrasive applications at the best price-performance ratio.
More > About ARJOCLOTH
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2010… A new dimension : From Abrasive Paper Backing Expert to Abrasive Global Backing Expert
Arjowiggins commits to focus on Quality, Efficiency, Progress and Integrity first in all the undertakings and renews its offer with a new and extended set of service, expertise and backing range, including paper, cloth and film.
Because time has arrived to deliver the right solution each customer is waiting for, Arjowiggins has paid attention to develop standardized top quality solutions to serve its customers’ competitiveness, but still offer customized service, expertise and products to answer specific market requirements on request.
More > About THE A SOLUTION ²
