Prent doubles down in China

As reported last month here, Prent Corp. (Janesville, WI) next month plans to open its first thermoforming facility in Europe, in Denmark, to serve primarily medical device manufacturers. The processor’s presence in China dates back to 2004; there, as elsewhere, it thermoforms custom packaging for the medical, electronics, and consumer industries. Much of the growth going forward is expected from the firm’s work serving the medical market.

The new facility includes space for sales, product design, thermoforming, production control, secondary operations, and the necessary space to handle just-in-time delivery. “Since Prent entered the China market five years ago, we’ve experienced fantastic growth,” according to Joseph Pregont, Prent president and CEO. The company currently employs 300 in China. The new building’s processing space is divided into three Class 8 cleanrooms. It is ISO 9001 certified and the company is striving to add ISO 14000 certification in 2010.

BJ Nielsen, Prent Asia president, notes that processing in China remains a busy business, but that pricing competition has increased. “Although the economic downturn in the past year has not affected the demand in China for medical and consumer electronics packaging, we have seen costs become an increasingly important factor in our customers’ business decisions,” he explained.

“We expect the Chinese economy will continue to perform well. In the next 10 years, we believe China will experience a significantly higher growth rate than North America or Europe. At Prent China, we anticipate modest yearly growth from our already substantial consumer electronics business. Within our core medical business, we expect sales in the next five years to double at minimum, as more global medical device manufacturers move into China,” says Nielsen. The company mostly counts multinational corporations as its customers in China, though it also serves some China customers, according to Nielsen.

In related news, the company offered some additional details on its plans in Denmark. When it opens early next month, the facility will be able to offer customers product design and quality assurance, in addition to thermoforming.  “As demand grows we will add tool engineering, tool building and secondary operations,” says Peter Bay, managing director of Prent Denmark. Prent purchased just over six acres of land for the site to allow for capacity expansion. He added, “Fortunately, going into this market, we have a good reputation amongst our existing global medical customers with European facilities. We will start slow and build our business. But without a doubt, if I look five years out, Prent will be one of the main players in the European medical packaging market.”

Prent Denmark will initially employ 20-25 people, but Bay believes employment within five years could reach 100 people or more.  The facility is located in Holbaek, about 35 miles from Copenhagen. —[email protected]