A foam packaging company is spending nearly $5 million to expand operations in Pflugerville, Texas, a move that's expected to add 22 jobs.
Austin Foam Plastics Inc., owned by Sealed Air Corp., plans a 60,000-square-foot expansion that will receive a total of $105,000 in grant funding from the Pflugerville Community Development Corp.
Along with foam packaging, AFP also makes corrugated, molded pulp and wood packaging.
The company was founded in 1978 in Austin and relocated headquarters to Pflugerville 20 years later. Sealed Air acquired AFP in 2018.
“The facility expansion will incorporate Sealed Air's fabricated foam innovations and further expand custom engineered protective packaging for retail, e-commerce and direct shipping markets, such as electronics and transportation,” the development corporation said in a statement.
AFP is slated to receive $35,000 per year over a three-year period in grant money. The company must maintain a minimum of 125 jobs during the first year and create 10 new jobs in the second year. The grant agreement requires the creation of 12 new jobs in the third year.
The 125 jobs as well as the new jobs must be maintained for the company to receive funding.
“We have proudly been a member of the Pflugerville business community for 20 years, and we appreciate the Pflugerville Community Development Corporation in helping APF continue to grow and succeed,” AFP President Rick Lange said in a statement.
Acquisition of AFP by Sealed Air brings new growth opportunities, PCDC Executive Director Amy Madison in a statement. “The recent transition of the privately held company to a subsidiary of Sealed Air provides new opportunities for sustainability not only for the company, but also the products they manufacture, and we look forward to their continued growth in our community,” she said.
Sealed Air indicated AFP had sales of $125 million when the acquisition happened last summer.
AFP uses polyethylene, polyurethane and expanded polystyrene to make foam packaging. The company provides the design, development, testing and fabrication of packaging. The firm also provides warehousing and just-in-time delivery services.
Acquisition of AFP is part of a larger push by Sealed Air, based in Charlotte, N.C., to expand its presence in custom engineered packaging.
Sealed Air, at the time of the purchase, indicated AFP had six manufacturing sites in the United States "with a further presence in Asia and Mexico.”
