Israeli cross-linked foam company opening North Carolina plant

EIN HANATZIV, ISRAEL (Updated Nov. 4, 2:15 p.m. ET) -- Cross-linked polyethylene foam manufacturer Palziv North America is opening its first U.S. manufacturing plant next year. The company on Nov. 3 announced plans to invest $7.8 million to open a new foam molding plant in Louisburg, N.C.

The plant and corporate headquarters, which will employ 72, are scheduled to come online next summer, Ronnie Goswick, Franklin County’s economic development director, said in a Nov. 3 telephone interview.

The 165,000-square-foot plant on 42 acres is currently occupied by another company. Palziv is buying the property but that deal has not yet closed, Greg Brooker, Palziv North America’s president and CEO, said in a Nov. 5 telephone interview.

Palziv custom builds its own extruders and uses a proprietary extrusion process to make closed-cell cross-linked PE blocks and rolls. Palziv serves several markets including packaging, insulation, toys and prosthetics.

The company already has a distribution center in Ohio and a manufacturing facility in Canada, operating as PXL Cross-Linked Foam Corp. in Cobourg, Ontario.

Palziv North America and PXL are both wholly owned subsidiaries of foam manufacturer Palziv Ltd., based in kibbutz Ein HaNatziv, Israel. PXL has brand equity in Canada, Brooker said, and will retain that name north of the border while eventually phasing into Palziv.

Brooker said he will be able to be more forthcoming about the company’s manufacturing plans in the United States in the coming weeks, after Palziv takes possession of the new plant.

The company received a $250,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund for the Louisburg plant, according to a news release from Gov. Bev Perdue’s office.

The average annual wage for the 72 new jobs will be $34,167, not including benefits, the release said.

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