Mitsubishi Polyester Film Group will expand PET film capacity in North America by installing a new, large line at its Greer, S.C., plant. The company will invest an undisclosed amount in the line, which is capable of extruding 40 million pounds per year of film for packaging and industrial markets.
Mitsubishi targets an early 2003 start-up date for the line, according to Dennis Trice, business manager for Mitsubishi Polyester Film LLC of Greer.
Trice said the PET line will be similar to ones recently completed in Merak, Indonesia, and Wiesbaden, Germany. The Greer project will boost Mitsubishi's global PET film capacity to about 400 million pounds per year.
Mitsubishi formed the PET film group in 1998 when it completed the buyout of Hoechst AG's interest in the former Diafoil PET films joint venture. It also runs PET film facilities in Santo and Nagahama, Japan.
In other PET film news, DuPont and Teijin Ltd. officially have started up their joint venture to make and sell film. The partners combined more than 600 million pounds of annual production capacity and expect annual PET film sales of about $1.4 billion.
Francine Cheeseman Shaw, former vice president and general manager for DuPont Polyester Films, has been named chairman and chief executive officer of DuPontTeijinFilms. The venture runs six facilities in the United States, four in Europe, four in Japan, and one each in Indonesia and China.
Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont also recently announced the formation of a joint venture in Turkey with Haci Omer Sabanci Holding AS.
The venture will focus on making and selling polyester resins, fibers and related products for sale in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The partners anticipate annual sales of about $1 billion.