Page 42 - Plastics News February 2023

BUSINESS NEWS

IFCO enters the Baltic region with the acquisition PLP Announces
of PlasticPack, the market leader in Lithuania
Acquisition of Pilot
Plastics

reformed Line Products Com-
FCO, the worldâs leading provider Director of PlasticPack Ppany (NASDAQ: PLPC) an-
Iof Reusable Packaging Containers In addition to offering regionwide nounced today that it has acquired
(RPCs) for fresh grocery products, to- coverage in the Baltics, customers in substantially all of the assets of Pilot
day announced the acquisition of the the region will benefit from IFCO’s Plastics, Inc.
RPC pooling services company Plas- long-standing global expertise of the
ticPack in Vilnius, Lithuania. Founded in 2001 and located in
circular economy and providing reus- Peninsula, Ohio, Pilot Plastics is an
PlasticPack is the current market able packaging. Combining PlasticPack injection molding manufacturing
leader in Lithuania providing reusable and IFCO will unite the best local and specialist with over two decades
packaging in the meat and dairy sup- global operating expertise, providing of experience serving various con-
ply chains. IFCO aims to become the an enhanced customer experience sumer and B2B industries, including
leading provider of RPCs for the fresh and the financial backing to scale the partnering with PLP over the last
grocery supply chain in the Baltic re- business. PlasticPack will incorporate fifteen years on multiple manufac-
gion serving Lithuania, Latvia, and Es- the highest customer service stand- turing projects.
tonia. ards to reduce lead times, improve With multiple state-of-the-art
RPC availability, as well as streamline presses and a highly experienced
PlasticPack will expand its product
portfolio beyond meat and dairy to ordering and invoicing systems. Fur- production team, the Pilot acqui-
sition will expand PLP’s injection
also include fruit and vegetable RPCs ther improvements in reverse logis- molding capabilities and further
to growers and retailers, becoming tics and transportation efficiency will enhance the company’s extensive
the first company to offer foldable re- also provide additional benefits and manufacturing footprint.
usable packaging for fruit and vegeta- allow customers to reduce the envi-
bles in the Baltics. By further expand- ronmental impact of their operations. “We are excited to build on our
ing the use of reusable packaging in Michael Pooley, CEO of IFCO, said: fifteen-year partnership with Pilot
the region, IFCO takes another step “Through this strategic transaction Plastics through this acquisition,”
stated John Hofstetter, Execu-
toward fulfilling its purpose of making we look forward to welcoming Plas- tive Vice President of U.S. Op-
the fresh grocery supply chain sustain- ticPack into IFCO’s global business erations at PLP. “Pilot’s extensive
able. portfolio. In addition, we are excited knowledge and history of injection
to apply our circular economy pool-
“We are really excited about the op- molding manufacturing will bring
portunity to join the IFCO team, al- ing model in the fresh grocery supply much-needed additional capacity
lowing us to grow our thriving busi- chain, which will bring much needed to produce critical infrastructure
ness and to expand into new verticals cost and environmental savings in the components for North America’s
to complement our service offering,” Baltic region.” current and future high-speed
said Eugenijus Michalauskas, Managing broadband deployment projects,
including advanced FTTH (Fiber to
the Home) and 5G networks.”

44 PLASTICS NEWS February 2023