Graham Packaging to make, market Tahara all-electric blowmolding machines in Europe

(Tokyo) has licensed Graham Packaging Company LP (York, PA) to manufacture its all-electric line of machines and market them in Europe. Tahara, which introduced its first electrically driven blowmolding machine in 1994, has issued a licensing agreement to Graham whereby that company will manufacture the machines at its Graham Poland factory, which also houses one of its three global technical centers, and market them in Europe through a Warsaw-based company. Graham Packaging is a leader in extrusion blowmolded containers for a variety of markets, including food and beverage, household, personal care/specialty, and automotive lubricants.

Graham Packaging, and Graham Engineering Corp. (York, PA), which manufactures extrusion blowmolding machines, evolved out of the Graham Group founded in 1960 by Donald Graham. Originally a design engineering firm, that business eventually spun off three manufacturing companies, which still exist today: Graham Packaging, Graham Engineering, and Graham Architectural. In 1998, founder Donald Graham sold a majority interest in Graham Packaging to investment firm The Blackstone Group. In 2004, it acquired O-I Plastic, a subsidiary of Owens-Illinois Inc., nearly doubling its size so that today it has 87 facilities and more than 8700 employees.

Tahara markets two lines of electrically driven blowmolding machines: the MSE/MB and MQ Series. The MQ is a tandem-style machine with two blowing stations and a maximum clamping force of 50 kN. Established in 1951, Tahara operates a 1866m² manufacturing plant in Kitakasai, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, with 64 employees. It opened a second assembly shop in 2002, and in 2006, The Japan Steel Works became its largest shareholder. Current export markets include Taiwan, Korea, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysis, Thailand, the U.S., Germany, and Sweden. —[email protected]