There is no end in sight to the expansion course undertaken by Indian flexible film manufacturer Uflex (Noida; http://uflexltd.com). After touting plans earlier this year to raise capacity at its plants in Egypt and Mexico (Plasteurope.com of 18.01.2011) as well as its facility in Poland (Plasteurope.com of 24.02.2011), the Indian group recently decided on Elizabethtown, Kentucky / USA as the site for its first US manufacturing plant.

All in all, Uflex will invest at least USD 180m in the new plant, albeit in phases. In the first stage, the Indian group will pump USD 90m into the facility, which will initially employ some 125 workers. Once operational, the overall workforce could reach 250. US media reports indicate that a biaxially oriented polyester (BOPET) line could be up and running at the site by the end of 2012.

Uflex was considering six different US states as base for the new plant, eventually deciding on Kentucky. The company will get to enjoy USD 20m in tax incentives, recently approved by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (Frankfort, Kentucky / USA; www.thinkkentucky.com).

“It is our corporate mission to become one of the most admired companies in the global flexible packaging business,” said Uflex chairman Ashok Chaturvedi, adding that, “our group philosophy has always been to progress through internal growth and better customer services by setting up new manufacturing plants as close as possible to our major markets using state-of-the-art technology and investing in global scales of production.”