Just a few months after having found a new shareholder (see Plasteurope.com of 25.06.2012), rigid films manufacturer Klöckner Pentaplast (kp, Montabaur / Germany; www.kpfilms.com) announced a number of production capacity expansions to the tune of EUR 39.6m. The money is earmarked for the group’s operations in Suzhou / China, Cotia / Brazil and Santo Tirso / Portugal and will see kp take on another 137 employees worldwide.

Specifically, kp said it would use EUR 11.6m of the funds at its site in Cotia, near São Paulo / Brazil where it plans to bring on stream another 1,200 t/y of coating and laminating capacity for its “Pentapharm alfoil” PvdC-coated and “Pentapharm Aclar” laminated packaging films by autumn 2013. In addition, some of the money will go towards raising the site’s PVC calendaring output by 12,000 t/y by spring 2014, whereby matte calendering capacity is due on stream in autumn that year. The latter output will mostly go towards the pharmaceutical, food, print, card and general purpose thermoforming markets.

Closer to home, kp has earmarked EUR 5.5m to raise output at its polyester films plant in Santo Tirso / Portugal by 8,000 t/y by end of next year. The money will go towards a new extrusion line to produce films for food and consumer packaging applications. The German group said it would add 25 employees at the site to handle the added output.

The remaining investment money will go towards kp’s first Chinese production site, located in Suzhou and due for start-up in spring next year – see also Plasteurope.com of 09.02.2012. The EUR 22.5m earmarked for this facility will see kp commission 6,000 t/y of shrink-label film capacity. Once operational, the site will employ 76 workers.