Industrial container manufacturer AST Kunststoffverarbeitung (Erndtebrück / Germany; www.ast-kunststoffkanister.de) opened a new UK production plant in Wrexham / North Wales, in December 2011. The facility turns out extrusion blow moulded, HDPE, stackable jerricans in sizes from five litres up to 25 litres, and also operates a 25-litre square round unit. All products are UN certified for dangerous goods packaging and are made in accordance with the factory’s ISO 9001:2008 accreditation status. The plant is AST’s first outside of Germany.

AST has had a long-established customer base in the UK that was serviced from mainland Europe. They, and new customers, will now be supplied from the Wrexham plant, which, the company says, reinforces its position in the European industrial plastic containers market. Commenting on the opening of the new factory, AST UK’s managing director Paul Devaney said the company is committed to providing safe, reliable and high quality plastic packaging in the markets it serves, which, primarily, are chemicals, pharmaceutical and food.

At its headquarters, AST operates one of the most modern blow moulding plants in Europe, which opened in 2005 and supplies a partner network of agents and distributors in many European countries. It has more than 100 employees and an annual turnover in excess of EUR 55m.