Kickstart: Sharing the wealth

Mergers and acquisitions are always top news items for Plastics News, but the payout to owners and executives don't typically trickle down to line workers.

Minnesota Rubber and Plastics is the exception.

The plastics, rubber and LSR molder based in Plymouth, Minn., has announced a deal from Sweden's Trelleborg AB to buy the company as Trelleborg grows in North America. The company, officially Quadion LLC dba Minnesota Rubber and Plastics, has been owned by global investment group KKR since 2018. When it bought the business, KKR implemented an employee ownership program. And now with the Trelleborg deal, 1,450 employees across six countries and four states will get a payout as well, with bonuses worth a minimum of three months' salary and rising to up to two full years' salary.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune was on site Aug. 2 as executives hosted a companywide meeting to announce the acquisition and the bonuses.

"Employees hooted, hollered and clapped loudly as the bonuses were announced," the Star Tribune's Patrick Kennedy wrote. "Some even covered their faces with their hands in surprise and joy."

The average pay at MPR is $50,000.

"To help employees with cash bonuses that could exceed $100,000, depending on employee's tenure, [KKR will] give all employees prepaid personal financial coaching and tax preparation services," Kennedy wrote.

When is green not green?

According to Coca-Cola Co. and recyclers, it's when the green is in tinted PET bottles. The color has been used for soft drinks such as Coca-Cola's Sprite brand, but it has far less value in the recycling stream because the color contaminates the stream for preferred clear PET.

So Coke announced late last month that it will switch to clear PET, as PN's Jim Johnson writes.

The move will also make it easier for Coca-Cola to hit its goal of using at least 50 percent recycled material in bottles and cans by 2030.

"It makes sense if [Coca-Cola] wants more of their containers recycled," Steve Alexander, CEO of the Association of Plastic Recyclers, told Jim for an update to the original announcement from Coke. "Brands are the source of their own recycled feedstock, so changes like this only help to create less contamination and more consistent material for recyclers to create recycled content to help brands meet their sustainability."

Robot maker Fanuc saw some big numbers in 2021, with revenue up 33 percent from 2020 and profit climbing 65 percent to $1.15 billion as manufacturers invested in more automation to compete in a tight labor market.

So it makes sense the Japanese company with U.S. headquarters in Rochester Hills, Mich., is growing, with plans announced for an $86 million expansion in nearby Auburn Hills, Mich., that will see the company adding a 665,000-square-foot plant.

Groundbreaking is set for the fall with the plant expected to come online in 2024.