Yamada-Wentworth, a joint venture between Japan’s Yamada Electric (Nagoya City; www.yamada-electric.co.jp) and packaging group Wentworth Technologies (Brantford, Ontario / Canada; www.wtbvc.com), has been granted a permit allowing it to operate in Poland’s Łódź Special Economic Zone, where it is building a new plant to manufacture plastic razors as well as household and toilet articles.

The joint venture took over the operations in Łódź with effect from 1 July 2017, producing razors for Gillette (Boston, Massachusetts / USA; www.gillette.com), including the "Fusion", "ProGlide", "Flexball" and "Venus" models. An investment of nearly PLN 4m (EUR 942,000) is being made in the plant in Lućmierz, which will provide 120 new jobs. Capacity details and a start-up date were not revealed.

Speaking in December 2016, when the joint venture agreement was completed, Yamada US president Fred Campatelli said the deal was in line with its strategy to be the global razor manufacturer for Gillette and Yamada could make similar moves at its other manufacturing sites.