PDL, a manufacturer of cigarette paper since 1921, is today a key market player in the tobacco industry.
With revamped paper machines dedicated to tobacco industry papers, a team in both the technical and commercial areas plus the development of innovative product lines, PDL is currently offering premium products and services to manufacturers of cigarettes, cigars, filter rods and tipping paper converters.
Thanks to a century of know-how and its flexibility as an independent supplier, PDL is your ideal partner for developing high end products.
PDL Cigarette Papers is the brand used by PDL, Papeteries du Leman to manufacture and sell cigarette papers.
As a leader in technology, PDL puts a significant amount of its turnover back into Research & Development.
Our goals are to improve tobacco products range and develop new papers according clients requests and desired development.
Alone or in partnership with its clients and suppliers, PDL uses its expertise in R&D to:
– develop end uses, specifically for markets where the company can use its assets to support innovation
– carry out exploratory and fundamental research, based on an assessment of experimental equipment and disruptive technology that breaks with convention.
Our capacity for innovation is driven by:
– Highly specialised manufacturing expertise
– An R&D department with the most advanced analysis and research tools available
– A panel of scientific and technological partners
– Attendance and involvement in the major conferences for the pulp and paper industry
Our origins in tobacco products manufacturing began in 1879, when Maurice and Jacques Braunstein set up a workshop producing cigarette paper.
They invented and patented a packaging technique of overlapping thin papers in a dispenser.
This technique, and the Braunstein company itself, became so successful that a larger production facility was needed.
In 1921, the Thonon facility, comprising three paper machines, was built on the banks of Léman lake.
From 1936, the site comprised 6 machines, employed more than 500 people, and produced 10 tonnes per day.
Thanks to over a century of a unique know-how and experience, PDL has created standards of production, quality, and sustainability that remain unmatched in the cigarette paper industry.
Having undergone a complete refurbishment and thanks to an investment of 5 million euros in
2010, machine 4 at PDL is, according to a Pöyry Benchmark Study, one of the most efficient
cigarette paper machines in the world today.
PM4 capacity: 14,000 tonnes per year with an average grammage of 33 g/m²
The PDL machine 3 is a machine designed to be able to accept all types of plant fibers and thus allow the manufacture of custom paper for our customers. Its dimensioning as well as the size of its circuits are major advantages for producing small series in a very short time.
PM3 capacity: 2,500 tonnes per year with an average grammage of 18 g / m²
We’re always here to listen, support and satisfy our clients. With our technical expertise and internationally-renowned knowledge, PDL has a dedicated team who get involved in the technical side of our clients’ projects.
The team’s main tasks are to oversee product developments, deal with claims, optimise the transformation process for our clients, and to improve our products by incorporating our clients’ requirements.
Over the years, the team has become known for its unrivalled expertise and its knowledge of each client’s specific needs.