Our final processor ranking of the year in print is our North American blow molders top 100. The full 122 firms are ranked online. These represent $18.7 billion in sales. That breaks out to 77 percent for bottle sales and 23 percent industrial sales.
The biggest news comes from two of the top four. First, Graham Packaging Co. LP is separating from Reynolds Group Holdings following the creation of Pactiv Evergreen Inc. According to PEI's initial public offering in August, Graham will now operate as a separate business.
Next, Consolidated Container Co. LLC has changed its name to Altium Packaging LP.
Several trends emerged for fiscal 2019. The beverage market volumes held flat, although raw material pricing declined. Without expansion or acquisitions, it was a tough year to grow.
Diversity was a key factor for those that outperformed the market. Looking at the bottle molders reporting gains, the average increase was 6 percent. That includes companies like Aaron Packaging Inc., maker of plastic bottles and jars; Altium Packaging LP Packaging, medical; Drug Plastics & Glass Co. Inc., health care packaging; Priority Plastics Inc., custom and stock consumer products containers; and SFB Plastics Inc., custom containers and freezer spacers.
Looking at industrial blow molders, overall the sector was down 3 percent in 2019.
Here is a list of the top movers in our ranking this year:
TPG Plastics LLC of Willowbrook, Ill., moving up 38 spaces to rank at No. 44.
Chapin Custom Molding Inc. of Elyria, Ohio, moving up 11 spaces to No. 83.
Blow Molded Solutions LLC of Mayodan, N.C., moving up 10 spaces to 70.
SFB Plastics Inc. of Wichita, Kan., moving up nine spaces to rank at No. 60.
Metro Mold & Design Inc. of Brooklyn Park, Minn., moving up eight spaces to No. 92.
Raytech Industries Inc. of Bossier City, La., moving up seven spaces to rank at No. 117.
Pinnacle Plastic Products Inc. of Bowling Green, Ohio, moving up three to rank at No. 54.
Parker Plastics Inc. of Pleasant Prairie, Wis., moving up three spaces to rank at No. 25.
Hi-Rel Plastics & Molding Inc. of Riverside, Calif., moving up three spaces to rank at No. 118.
Welcome to the ranking, packaging firm Artisan Packaging LLC of Harrisonburg, Va.
You can find the complete listings online at www.plasticsnews.com/rankings/blow-molders.
This ranking and all the Plastics News rankings and 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.
Keller is editorial research coordinator for Plastics News and author of the All Things Data blog. Follow her on Twitter @holleekeller.