Exopack LLC aims to be the biggest producer globally of stand-up pouches with the Sept. 30 purchase of Specialty Films & Associates of Hebron, Ky.
Exopack will expand SF&A's Hebron plant during the next year, Exopack President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Woods said in a news release.
The expansion includes a new pouch-making line and relocation of some production assets from Exopack's facilities, marketing manager Paul Kearns said in a telephone interview from his Spartanburg, S.C., head office.
Exopack extrudes film, laminates, prints and does some pouch production at its plastics plants in Tomah, Wis., and Griffin, Ga. Exopack runs nine plants, which mostly make paper packaging.
SF&A has had annual sales of about $10 million. Its markets include food, pet food, beverage, snack and health and cosmetics. SF&A has won awards for its uniquely shaped and spouted pouches, Woods said. Kearns said SF&A's pouches are based on laminates made from various engineered materials and polyolefins. SF&A does some of its own lamination and buys roll stock.
Husband and wife team Tony Cherot and Jane Dirr established SF&A in 1996. They will continue with the operation, now an Exopack subsidiary.
Kearns said Exopack has been a pouch producer for several years and recently expanded capacity in Tomah. In plastics, Exopack has focused on specialty films and laminates for sale to converters. Its biggest films business is supplying printed roll stock, including laminates and shrink films. The firm also supplies polyethylene film to its paper sack operations. It recorded plastic film sales of $81 million in 2001, according to Plastics News' recent film and sheet ranking.
The acquisition of SF&A underlines Exopack's plan of expanding in plastics-based consumer packaging, Woods said. The company was formed in August 2001 when managment led a buyout of International Paper Co.'s flexible packaging division.