Amhil adding line at thermoforming plant in Poland
By Joseph Pryweller
PLASTICS NEWS STAFF

ZARNOWIEC, POLAND (Feb. 12, 3:25 p.m. EST) -- Thermoformer Amhil Enterprises Ltd. is expanding its plastic disposable lid plant in Poland months after launching the pioneering facility.
Mississauga, Ontario-based Amhil will invest close to C$1 million (US$630,000) to install a second in-line extrusion and packaging line at the 32,000-square-foot plant in Zarnowiec, said Bruce McNichol, president and chief executive officer.

The plant will add about 35 workers, bringing the total to 80, when the project is finished by April, McNichol said in a Feb. 12 telephone interview.

The plant opened in December and is one of the few — if not only — thermoforming operations in Poland to make the plastic cup lids. Amhil, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mississauga-based Wentworth Technologies Co. Ltd., will use the plant as a linchpin to broaden operations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, McNichol said.

“We needed additional capacity for customer demands in Europe and on the export market,” McNichol said. “Being in Poland makes us rather unique. Poland is a very cost-effective center to produce and ship, especially when you take logistics into consideration.”

The facility is less than 40 miles from a major container port on the Baltic Sea. Wentworth also operates an injection molding facility in Bydgoszcz, Poland, giving packaging customers the choice between injection molding and thermoforming in Poland, McNichol said.

Amhil expects to record sales of C$65 million to C$70 million (US$41 million to US$44 million) in 2002, McNichol said.