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September 21, 2020 03:54 PM

Defining film and sheet a flexible target

Hollee Keller
Editorial Research Coordinator
Plastics News Staff
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    Graphic by Amy Steinhauser

    Let's take a look behind the numbers of our updated ranking of North American film and sheet manufacturers.

    This ranking is designed to reflect sales from the manufacture, extrusion and calendaring of film and sheet. Figures for some companies include sales from converting products not actually made in-house.

    What is film? What is sheet? Both are flexible, so it's really just a matter of thickness. Some products are obvious like stretch film over meat at the grocery store or food takeout trays that are thermoformed from sheet. Think sold in rolls or cut to size and stacked.

    For some products it comes down to the manufacturer to decide what to call it. From labels to mud flaps, this ranking has most everything in-between.

    For huge volume companies, it makes sense to control the supply chain from resin manufacturing to product making. It's no surprise that there are big names and big total sales in this list, in fact, 20 percent of the listed firms are publicly held, compared to just 8 percent in our injection molding ranking, our biggest at 570 molders.

    This year there are 171 firms ranked with related sales of $35.8 billion for the 2019 fiscal year. That's down 2.5 percent over last year. Remember those huge volume companies? Well, this is where it gets interesting.

    Related resin prices fell on average 5 percent in 2019 — 8 percent if you consider the unusual swing of polypropylene. Small percentage changes at the billion dollar level added up to a $694 million decline in the top 10 alone. The breakout remained consistent with 81 percent in film sales and 19 percent for sheet.

    Let's talk sustainability. Packaging is the largest end market for this group and packaging is a huge topic around circular economy talk. Manufacturers are taking ownership of the life cycle of their products, here are a few examples:

    • From its August 2020 Annual Sustainability Report, Novolex of Hartsville, S.C., reports it has two polyethylene recycling centers, which specialize in recycling plastic consumer retail bags as well as films such as dry-cleaning bags, newspaper bags and other items labeled for "store drop off" recycling programs.

    • Winpak Ltd. Of Winnipeg, Manitoba is now part of The Recycling Partnership's Polypropylene Recycling Coalition to Improve and Increase America's Recovery of Plastic Packaging and Strengthen the Circular Economy.

    • Clorox Co., owner of ranked Glad Products Co., has joined the U.S. Plastics Pact, a collaborative, solutions-driven initiative led by The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

    • Packaging company ProAmpac of Cincinnati has launched its own sustainability website.

    • Flexible packaging firm, Charter NEX Films Inc. of Milton, Wis., has joined the Association of Plastic Recyclers and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste.

    • Next Generation Films Inc. is now a member of the GreenBlue Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), Bonset America Corp. of Bowns Summit, N.C., is also a member.

    • Transcontinental Inc. of Montreal signed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy Global Commitment.

    • Dolco Packaging, a Tekni-Plex business, announced a new collaboration with Agilyx Corp. of Tigard, Ore., a chemical recycler, to increase the recyclability of post-use plastics.

    Graphic by Amy Steinhauser

    Welcome to the ranking, these firms are new to our list:

    • Dana Poly Inc. of Dover, N.J., a polyethylene film, bags, and sheet products maker.

    • Gigantic Bag LLC of Summit, Miss., a polyethylene film and bag maker.

    • Versa Pak Ltd. Of Celina, Ohio, a custom bags and films maker.

    Biggest movers:

    • SWM of Chicago moved up 44 spaces to rank at No. 114.

    • Packaging Personified Inc. of Carol Stream, Ill., moved up 19 spaces to rank at No. 67

    • O'Sullivan Films Inc. of Winchester, Va., moved up 14 spaces to rank at No. 41

    • Polymer Packaging Inc. of Massillon, Ohio, moved up 12 spaces to rank at No. 74

    • Senoplast USA Inc. of Aurora, Ill., moved up nine spaces to rank at No. 100

    • JR Plastics Corp. of Ocala, Fla., moved up nine spaces to rank at No. 82

    • >Tekni-Films of Holland, Ohio, moved up eight spaces to rank at No. 34

    • Crayex Corp. of Piqua, Ohio, moved up eight spaces to rank at No. 71

    • Highland Plastics Inc. of Shepherd, Mich., moved up eight spaces to rank at No. 129

    • >Commex Corp. of Hayward, Calif., moved up seven spaces to rank at No. 148

    • Loose Plastics Inc. of Gladwin, Mich., moved up five spaces to rank at No. 87

    • Hillside Plastics Corp. of Hillside, N.J., moved up five spaces to rank at No. 76

    • Dallas Plastics Corp. of Mesquite, Texas, moved up five spaces to rank at No. 95

    • Aristech Surfaces LLC of Florence, Ky., moved up five spaces to rank at No. 46

    Be sure to check out the full report in the Sept. 21 print issue of Plastics News.

    You can find the complete listings online at www.plasticsnews.com/rankings/film-sheet.

    This ranking and all the Plastics News rankings & lists can be downloaded from our data store at www.plasticsnews.com/data.

    If you work for a company that is missing from the ranking, we would like to include you next time. Just send a note to Hollee Keller at or mail your information to Plastics News, P.O. Box 790, Tallmadge, Ohio 44278.

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