Production facilities of Global Closure Systems (GCS, Paris / France; www.gcs.com), as the Crown group bottle closure activities were renamed in April 2006, are being consolidated and streamlined, more than a year after the business was sold to private equity investor PAI Partners (Paris) – see Plasteurope.com Web of 29.08.2005. Along with Obrist and Bender, GCS owns the brand names Zeller Plastik (originally at Zell / Germany), Astra Plastiques (Saint-Georges de Reneins / France) and the two British companies UCP and Massmould. Activities in Italy, Spain, central and eastern Europe, North America and Asia trade either as Obrist or Zeller Plastik.

Plans call for closure of two Obrist sites in Switzerland, including the original plant in Reinach, at the end of March 2007, with production shifted to Germany, Italy and Spain. The Bender plastics activities (Frankenthal / Germany) also will be restructured, and GCS is mulling plans to exit aluminium closures. Talks are being held with employee representatives at affected plants. Central and eastern European production in Romania, Turkey and Russia will remain unaffected.The group with around 3,500 employees and estimated sales of more than EUR 550m currently operates 29 plants worldwide.