Page 40 - Plastics News September 2018

COMPANY NEWS

Saint-Gobain to expand life Cypet opens PET machinery
sciences division in Michigan plant in India

aint-Gobain Performance Plastics is out to put a small ndia’s growing plastic packaging industry continues
SMichigan town dubbed the thermoforming capital of the Ito draw in foreign equipment makers, with single-
world on the map for another reason with a $26 million speed PET machinery maker Cypet Technologies Ltd.
expansion of its life sciences division. The Solon, Ohio- from Cyprus investing in a plant. The family-controlled
based subsidiary of Cie de Saint-Gobain, is building an company opened an assembly site in Ahmedabad in
88,000-square-foot facility in Beaverton to add capacity WR PHHW SRWHQWLDO LQ WKH PDUNHW ´,W·V D ¶0DNH
in-India’ plant that solely serves the Indian market
as all other export commitments are met by the
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5,000-square-foot plant employs 10 and assembles
one machine for moulding 17-litre edible oil jars and
20-litre water bottles.
A second machine is under construction to produce
100-litre drums for the chemical sector. Sideris said the
company chose Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat,
to extrude medical tubing and produce components and because Gujarat and neighbouring Maharashtra state
assemblies for its customers in the drug manufacturing account for 65 percent of India’s plastics industry.Most
business.The expansion will create 60 jobs and increase of the parts are sourced locally but he said automation
Saint-Gobain's footprint in the rural town to 148,000 components come from various locations in Europe.
square feet. The company currently is Beaverton's The company’s Nicosia, Cyprus, headquarters plant
top employer with 251 workers. The community has a makes about 30 machines annually but Sideris said it
population of 1,071.
is looking to increase production.
The growth is being driven by the pharmaceutical
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industry, which is switching from stainless steel products demand in the global PET market is expected to
to disposable plastics and silicones as drugs become
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more specialized and individualized, said Stephen 0H[LFR WR $XVWUDOLD EXW KDV \HW WR HQWHU WKH 8 6
Maddox, general manager for the life sciences unit of PDUNHW ´:H DUH H[SORULQJ WKH 86 PDUNHW DQG KRSH
the performance plastics business." The new facility will WR FRPPHQFH VXSSOLHV LQ WKH QH[W \HDUV µ ,W·V DOVR
make products for drug and vaccine manufacturers to
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Saint-Gobain's bioprocess solutions unit. For an example,
he pointed to silicone tubing that branches from two to
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step, eight or 16 samples can be collected" and put into
smaller containers, Le Quere said. He oversees Saint-
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gene therapies. In some cases, scientists are modifying
patients' immune cells and sending them back to be used working on a new preform production method which
in those people for new therapies that detect and destroy LQYROYHV D VLPSOLÀHG SRVW PRXOG FRROLQJ V\VWHP
cancer. The products to be manufactured at the new allowing PET preform production with shorter cycle
Beaverton facility will ultimately improve patient care, times on affordable equipment. The new method
said Mark Rovoll, engineering manager for Saint-Gobain is under development and commercialization is
Performance Plastics. expected in the next three months.

Plastics News September 2018 40