Thermoformed packaging manufacturer Nelipak (Cranston, Rhode Island / USA; www.nelipak.com) appointed Jose Villafane to the newly created role of operations director, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica, reporting directly to CEO Mike Kelly and based at Nelipak’s Juncos / Puerto Rico site. He was at Essentra (Milton Keynes / UK; www.essentra.com) for more than 25 years holding various positions, the last of which was operations director for several packaging facilities in Puerto Rico.

Rafael Aponte was appointed controller, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica, responsible for finance at both sites. He was also at Essentra where he supported Villafane. He will be based at Juncos / Puerto Rico, reporting directly to Nelipak CFO Paul Hogan.

Nelipak said Rolando Salas, currently Costa Rica general manager, is being promoted to quality director, Americas, and will oversee four regional sites. Before Nelipak, Salas had more than 12 years of experience as quality head for three medical device manufacturers – DeRoyal, Vention Medical and Abbot Vascular. Jeremy Vargas, currently Costa Rica production superintendent, was named operations manager for Costa Rica.

The appointments came after Nelipak's acquisition in July 2016 of Tegrant Alloyd Brands of Puerto Rico Inc, a thermoforming subsidiary of US packaging group Sonoco (Hartsville, South Carolina; www.sonoco.com). Tegrant's Juncos factory became Nelipak's sixth facility. Also last year, Nelipak built a new class 8 clean room at its Phoenix / Arizona site and consolidated its two Venray sites in the Netherlands. Nelipak also said it will expand its Costa Rican facility in 2017.