Page 31 - Plastics News December 2017

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Unsafe • It is more expensive to recycle
Glass is also more dangerous when broken as compared to • Glass takes twice as much energy to produce
other packaging material. Broken glass can cut a person’s • More pollution is created in manufacture, shipping
skin and can at times, also be life threatening. This is a and recycling of glass
danger that is very true for those working in factories,
shops and even transportation and packaging operative • Glass creates more than 6 times the global warming
who are responsible in handling them. gases than plastic According to the Jan 2013 issue
of International Journal of Lifecycle Assessment,
Plastic seems to have a definite advantage over glass. glass beverage bottles cause the most environmental
Glass has a few key detractors. First, it’s more expensive damage, including global warming.
to produce and to buy. Secondly, it is more fragile making
it prone to breakage during shipping. However, those risks
often outweigh the benefit of glass for specific products.

Uflex aims to double global manufacturing footprint by 2025

The Company believes high-barrier range is a game-changing product, may expand with specialized
polymer film capacities in the United States and Poland

flex Ltd., one of India's largest multinational flexible efforts have been made to add value to the product
Upackaging companies, is sketching out ambitious range," he said, noting interest in building on its capacity
expansion plans to double the number of its factories in the United States to make in-line double-side coated
globally by 2025. Currently, the firm is growing 12 to 15 polyester film, with a focus on high-barrier films. "We
percent annually in the domestic market but marginally believe high-barrier range is a game-changing product,"
slower at 10 percent globally, with sales split roughly he said. "The plan is to expand the categories to seven
equally between domestic and overseas business. or eight with high-barrier specs. Holographic and nylon
films are others to grow substantially. Metalized films are
Speaking about the expansion plans Anantshree Chaturvedi,
vice chairman of the company's Flex Films International replacing aluminum foil, and this also happens to be one
subsidiary said, "We are looking at doubling our overseas avenue where we need to expand our range."
presence by expanding our global footprints to 10 to 12 He said there is no expansion going on in any of the
locations from the current six greenfield facilities in the overseas plants as the company had a very project-focused
[United Arab Emirates], Mexico, Egypt, Poland and [United approach during its overseas expansion from 2000 to
States] besides India, by 2025. The global expansion plan 2015.Now, strategy is changed with a greater focus on
for the company, which has about $1.07 billion in annual product-based growth," Chaturvedi said. "We would like
sales, has yet to reach the concrete stage. But Uflex is in to be in those countries not merely as local commodity
discussions about the former Soviet bloc Commonwealth manufacturer but someone who can add significant value
of Independent States, Latin America and the Far East as in developing product particularly for that market or
potential near-term targets, he said. region." He said the company may expand with specialized
polymer film capacities in the United States and Poland,
"Eastern Europe, specifically CIS states, and Latin America
are an interesting market to expand in future," Chaturvedi as those factories are both close to 100 percent capacity.
said. "The Far East is a good M&A opportunity in the The U.S. and Polish plants have one polyester line each.
next two to three years. We may not opt for building Mexico and the United Arab Emirates have two polyester
a greenfield plant in the Far East but prefer to make film lines, while Egypt is the biggest plant with three
an acquisition in the region." The company is targeting lines of polyester, biaxially oriented polypropylene and
annual sales in the range of $1.5 billion by 2025, with a cast polypropylene films. The company has packaging
near-term goal of about $1.38 billion in the next two to facilities at multiple locations in India, with installed
three years, he said. Uflex, which has a U.S. manufacturing capacity of around 220.4 million pounds a year. Globally,
plant in Elizabethtown, Ky., plans on expanding its product it has cumulative installed capacity in excess of 742.9
range there. "After building overseas presence, conscious million pounds a year.

31 December 2017 Plastics News