Plastics processor Fatra (Napajedla / Czech Republic; www.fatra.cz) has acquired five more injection moulding machines from Negri Bossi (Milan / Italy; www.negribossi.com), which are to be installed at its Czech plants in Napajedla and Chropyně. The models, with a clamping force (including demoulding) of 6,500 kN and 11,000 kN, are intended, among other things, for supplying Ikea. Fatra would not say exactly which parts are to be manufactured.

The company – which has been part of the Agrofert Group since 2000 – is to invest a further CZK 1.4 bn (EUR 50m) in the modernisation of its PVC floor covering and sealing films production. By 2019, new extrusion lines and downstream units are also to be installed. Around 100 jobs are to be created as part of this expansion.

Under the leadership of CEO Pavel Čechmánek, Fatra has evidently recovered well from the huge fire that completely destroyed a four-storey production building at its Chropyně site in 2011 (see Plasteurope.com of 12.04.2011). With a workforce of 1,250 at the production facilities in Napajedla and Chropyně, the company is one of the Czech Republic's largest plastics processors.

Its portfolio contains many PVC products, such as floor coverings, sealing sheets, technical films, laminates, injection profiles and compounds as well as BOPET films. It also manufactures injection-moulded parts such as click flooring for terraces. In 2016, Fatra posted sales of just under CZK 3.7 bn (EUR 142m), of which three-quarters were from exports.