NORWALK, CONN. - Continental Plastic Containers Inc. of Norwalk has signed a five-year deal with Mobil Corp. of Fairfax, Va., to supply almost all the containers for Mobil's motor oil in the United States. Terms of the deal were not announced. The agreement gives CPC the ability to focus on the complete motor oil package, including maintaining inventory and purchase of closures for Mobil, according to Stephen Bainton, director of marketing and corporate communications for Syosset, N.Y.-based Continental Can Co., CPC's parent company.
``So far as we know it is the first time a vendor will have the responsibility of tracking the container all the way from resin to the retail store shelves,'' Bainton said.
The agreement calls for Continental to set up what amounts to a new business for the company, which will have monitoring teams in Mobil filling plants, and marketing teams that monitor the products on shelves. CPC molds the bottles mostly from high density polyethylene.
CPC has manufactured bottles for Mobil for five years.
Plastics Group moves recycling plant
WOONSOCKET, R.I. - Plastics Group of America is moving its Georgia recycling plant to a new location.
Robert Lebeaux, president of the Woonsocket-based recycler, said it is moving from a leased, 35,000-square-foot plant in Greensboro, Ga., to a $1 million, 63,000-square-foot facility under construction in Blairsville, Ga.
``We have seen a very strong demand for the types of materials we process,'' Lebeaux said. ``We were encouraged by some of our customers in the region to take this step, because it would help them too.''
The company, a toll processor and pelletizer, specializes in compounding filled polypropylene. Total volume at the company's existing plant in Georgia and its 70,000-square-foot Woonsocket plant is about 15 million to 20 million pounds per year, he said. Production after the expansion could reach 35 million pounds per year, he said.
The new facility will allow Plastics Group to add machinery to the Georgia operation. Lebeaux said the firm plans to add two densifiers and two extruders to the three densifiers and two extruders already at the Georgia site. In addition, it intends to upgrade existing balers. The new building will have room for warehouse space and is scheduled for completion late this year.
Ring Can Corp. planning Illinois plant
KANKAKEE, ILL. - Rigid packaging producer Ring Can Corp. plans to start production at a new plant in Kankakee, about 50 miles south of Chicago, in mid-April, according to the Kankakee Daily Journal.
The Oakland, Tenn., blow molder will start four production lines in a 50,000-square-foot building on a 5-acre site, the newspaper reported. It said the Kankakee plant will employ 40-50.
The paper quoted Wayne Drake, Ring Can's chief financial officer, as saying the company chose Kankakee partly to be close to Bunge Foods Corp., a customer in Bradley, Ill. Bunge makes shortening and vegetable oils at a plant in nearby Bradley, Ill., said a Bunge spokeswoman.
Ring Can officials did not return telephone calls to comment on the project.
The firm had $85 million in blow molding sales in 1993, according to Plastics News' blow molders' survey.
Eagle owner to buy Pacific Plastics
MINNEAPOLIS - Black Hawk Holdings Inc., a holding company that owns Hastings, Neb., pipe maker Eagle Plastics Inc., said it nearly will double its pipe extrusion sales by purchasing Pacific Plastics Inc. of Portland, Ore., with plants in Portland and Salt Lake City.
Minneapolis-based Black Hawk announced the purchase March 13, but did not disclose the terms.
Pacific Plastics generated 1994 sales of about $30 million, while Eagle Plastics reported $34 million in sales. Both companies extrude PVC and polyethylene.
``Pacific Plastics is almost as large and profitable as Eagle Plastics and complements the plastic pipe and tubing segments where Eagle is strong,'' said William Spell, president of Black Hawk Holdings.
For example, Pacific Plastics is strong in fiber optics and other communications markets. Eagle's strength is in turf irrigation, Spell said.
