Alpla Inc. North America, known more for blow molding capabilities, soon will begin construction of a 246,000-square-foot injection molding facility in Kansas City, Mo.
The plastic packaging maker said work will begin this year and be finished in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Alpla North America indicated this is the company's fourth location in Missouri and the first one in the state for injection molding.
"This is a strategic initiative expanding our volume and footprint," said Alpla North America Managing Director James Rooney in a statement. The new location "represents a key element of our growth strategy and our continued commitment to the expansion of our injection molding capabilities."
The new location at the Blue River Commerce Center will employ 75 and have rail service.
"While embracing new markets, the central location will better serve customers in the Midwest," Alpla said.
Alpla has 178 sites in 45 countries and makes plastic packaging systems, bottles, caps and molded parts. North America operations produce bottles and caps for the food, beverage, automotive, health, beauty and home care segments.
That includes 19 locations in North America, according to the company's website. Other sites in Missouri include one in Jefferson City and two in St. Peters.
News of the new location in Kansas City continues a busy time for Hard, Austria-based Alpla Group. The company revealed Oct. 1 the acquisition of bottle-to-bottle recycler BTB PET-Recycling of Bad Salzuflen, Germany.
Alpla also purchased Plastisax S.L., a producer of plastic bottles for the cosmetics, home and personal care segments in the Alicante province of Spain in September.
In August, Alpla revealed plans to acquire Wolf Plastics Group, which has three production facilities in Kammern, Austria; Fertőszentmiklós, Hungary; and near Bucharest, Romania.
This deal followed the purchase of the Durban, South Africa-based lubricants packaging division of Verigreen in July.
Alpla has about 21,600 employees around the world and sales of about $4.3 billion (3.69 billion euros) in 2020. Alpla ranked No. 5 on the most recent Plastics News listing of North America blow molders with estimated sales of $1.4 billion.