Frontline

Staff -- Converting Magazine, 4/1/2001

• Pliant goes gearless: The Kent, Wash., plant of flex-pack converter Pliant Corp. purchases a new Infiniti gearless CI-flexo press from PCMC, Green Bay, Wis. The servo-driven, sleeved technology is expected to help the company provide "superior value to our customers," says Pliant vp of mfg. Bruce Underwood. Formerly Huntsman Packaging, Pliant serves the food, personal-care, medical and industrial markets.

• LPI opts for new coater: The Becker, Minn., mill of Liberty Paper, Inc., plans to have a new 98-in. coater installed by the end of the year. The one- and two-side sheet coater will run a variety of paper stocks as well as recycled linerboard. The goal is to focus on short runs of packaging papers.

• Transco moves HQ: The plastic flex-pack converter combines its Canadian plants into one location in Montreal, Quebec. The new facility includes 175,000-sq-ft of factory/warehouse space. "We feel moving to one facility and combining our extrusion, bagmaking and printing equipment gives us a giant step forward in efficiency," says president Steve Lash.

• Chicago-area labelmakers unite: Pamco Label Co., with plants in Des Plaines, Ill., and a new 24,000-sq-ft facility in King of Prussia, Pa., acquires J.A. Larson Co., based in Elk Grove Village, Ill. Larson converts p-s labels for national accounts. The buy is part of Pamco's plan to grow 30 percent a year through 2006.

• Barco puts a little Spark in Clemson: Vandalia, Ohio-based Barco Graphics donates a Spark Cyrele digital imager to South Carolina's Clemson University. The digital-flexo device, built for the narrow-web and label markets, images photopolymer plates.

• Cloeren expands, relocates: The supplier of extrusion-die systems will move into a renovated HQ in Orange, Texas, by early May. It acquired the 55,000-sq-ft building last November. The new site will almost triple the size of Cloeren's previous facility.

• C.A. Litzler Co. acquires Thermovation Engineering: Cleveland-based Litzler buys the crosstown company which manufactures IR dryers for paper, film and foil coatings and textile materials. Litzler offers convection, RF and IR drying systems.

Market demand for sterile medical packaging such as pouches, plastic IV containers, bags and other items will climb nearly 6 percent a year through 2005, says a new Freedonia study. Growth is stimulated by an aging population and the convenience that these products offer.