Extrusion International USA 4-2022

34 Extrusion International 4/2022 34 INDUSTRY NEWS  Huhtamaki, a key global advanced manufacturer of sustainable packaging solutions, announced plans to ex- pand its molded fiber product manufacturing unit in the city of Hammond, Indiana, as part of its investment in Fiber Solutions. The investment, which is expected to start ramp- ing up towards the end of 2023, will enable Huhtamaki to better serve existing and new customers in North America with a broad range of sustainable, fully recyclable and com- postable, fiber-based packaging solutions, manufactured from 100% recycled North American raw material. “The investment in this new manufacturing capacity, adjacent to our existing site in Hammond represents our strong belief in the future development of the region and in the continued success of our customers – both current and new. The expansion will introduce new sustainable fiber-based products such as egg cartons and cup carriers – manufactured on state-of-the-art machinery developed by Huhtamaki – to our portfolio in the region and drive pro- duction efficiency. Our know-how in key packaging tech - nologies and our strong track record in sustainability make us extremely well positioned to support our customers and deliver on their sustainability agendas and goals with in- novative solutions”, says Charles Héaulmé, President and CEO of Huhtamaki. Amounting to a total investment of almost USD 100 million, the expanded facility covers circa 23,000 square meters and will be built adjacent to Huhtama- ki’s existing Hammond manufacturing unit. Huhtama- ki has operated in Hammond, Indiana, since 1948 and currently has approximately 140 employees. It expects to employ a further 100 new employees when fully op- erational. “We have a 75-year history in the great community of Hammond. Our new investment builds on our exist- ing technological expertise and will expand our manu- facturing capacity, further leveraging the success of earlier expansions of other Huhtamaki units across North America and harnessing our global expertise in molded fiber technology. This investment will enable us to better serve our customers in the growing North American consumer goods and retail markets”, says Ann O’Hara, President, North America. Huhtamaki currently employs approximately 4,400 people across 18 manufacturing units in North Ameri- ca – 17 in the United States and 1 in Mexico. Huhtamaki www.huhtamaki.com Ground Breaking on the ExpandedMolded Fiber Manufacturing Capacity in North America  The North American high-end stretch film manufac - turer Zummit Plastics Inc, based in Phoenix (AZ), is expand - ing once again, adding a new ALLROLLEX 3000 mm (120”) 6UP line at its Phoenix plant by third quarter of 2022. Al- ready last year, COLINES® commissioned Zummit’s first ALLROLLEX 3000 mm (120”) 6UP line in the company’s second manufacturing site in Columbus (GA) and, by end of 2022, the third ALLROLLEX 3000 mm (120”) 6UP line will be on-stream at Zummit Plastics, increasing the com- pany’s production capacity by over 35 million pounds in just one year. “We are going from strength to strength – said Miguel Peredo, Zummit Plastics’ CEO – as our products are hitting the market. We are pleased with our partnership with CO- LINES®, a truly reliable and high level supplier that we are having an amazing relationship with. By the end of 2022 we will have our third COLINES® line up and running and we are confident that in the near future we will be able to further expand our partnership”. COLINES®’ sales-strategy has proven to be crucial for the constant increase of the company’s presence in North America, with the delivery of over 50 lines during the last decade: “As a matter of fact we have strongly increased our turnover in the North American market – said Lorenzo Paggi, COLINES®’ Sales Area Manager in charge of the North American market – since our film extrusion lines are a perfect fit for the current needs of the market in terms of flexibility and quality. We achieved this growth through mainly investing in customer care and in our field service team, in addition to which we will soon be setting- up a dedicated spare-parts warehouse in the States: we are quite confident that this will be crucial in offering the best possible support to our valued customers in the USA market”. “We are glad that such an important customer like Zum- mit has decided to order new lines from us – said Anthony Caprioli, COLINES®’ CEO and Commercial Director – since that basically means that we have done a good job so far. Generally speaking, COLINES is getting bigger and stron- ger in the North American market, having sold many lines and may I proudly point out that we are talking about many repeat-orders. Obviously, we consider North Ameri- ca as a crucial market for our business and we are commit- ted to further boosting our presence there”. COLINES ® www.colines.it Expansion