Wausau (WI) Coated Products (www.wausaucoated.com), a provider of pressure-sensitive label products and coating technologies, adds a facility in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. The new site will add significant slitting, warehousing and distribution capacity while allowing the converter to serve the West Coast label-converting market with shorter lead times and reduced cost, Wausau Coated says.

Lake Forest, IL-based converter Colbert Packaging Corp. (www.colbertpkg.com) was honored with the Illinois Sustainable Technology Award from Governor Rod R. Blagojevich and the Waste Management and Research Center, a division of the IL Dept. of Natural Resources. Colbert's BlisterGuard® and EnviroGuard™ packages were recognized for their role in protecting the environment and boosting the state's economy.

Minneapolis labelmaker Smyth Cos. (www.smythco.com) broke ground for a new 30,800-sq-ft facility to house its commercial-printing division. The building, in Austin, MN, will consolidate operations currently being conducted in two buildings also located in Austin. Completion of the building is scheduled for June 2008. Smyth produces package labels, POP displays and other printed products.

Spear of Mason, OH, (www.spearsystem.com) begins operations at its new labelmaking facility in Johannesburg, South Africa. The 59,000-sq-ft plant produces pressure-sensitive, cut-stack and oriented polypropylene wrap labels on both a wide- and narrow-web press complement, highlighted by a new Cerutti 960/2 40-in. gravure press. Spearsystem Packaging Africa includes BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) ownership-partner Lidonga.

Colonial Carton (www.colonialcarton.com), of Clayton, NC, purchases a new Bobst Alpina II 75-A2 folder/gluer (www.bobstgroup.com). This third Alpina unit that Colonial has added in the past two years will reportedly be the first in the US configured with the Bobst AccuBraille rotary Braille-embossing system. The high-speed alternative to traditional embossing methods provides Colonial an efficient means to add Braille to any carton the converter produces.