Klöckner Pentaplast expands PET film production in the UK

Klöckner Pentaplast (Montabaur, Germany) has started up new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) capacity at its Crumlin, UK manufacturing facility, producing food and consumer packaging films. The firm invested £3 million ($4.4 million) in the plant, located north of Cardiff, with unspecified support from the Wales Assembly Government (WAG), adding production capacity and a building expansion.

Klöckner Pentaplast entered the UK in 1999 with the acquisition of Stanley Smith Ltd. in London. It purchased the just-expanded Crumlin site in Wales from G-PLAS Ltd. in 2001. Slightly over one year ago, the company expanded polyester film capacity at its Beaver, WV manufacturing site, with that expansion expected to add 15 employees. In fiscal 2008, Klöckner Pentaplast added what it described as "significant incremental capacity" in its polyester manufacturing capacity and capabilities, with expanded output at sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Effective Sept. 1, 2008, the company named Hans-Joachim Kogelnik as president and chief operating officer for its European operations, which in addition to the UK, includes plants in Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Spain, and Portugal, and sales offices in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Sweden, and Spain. The Klöckner Pentaplast Group, which is wholly owned by affiliates of the Blackstone Group, has 19 production operations in 11 countries, with annual sales topping $1.6 billion. —[email protected]