U.S. industrial packaging specialist Greif Inc. is expanding container manufacturing in Russia with the launch of a new plant to produce food-grade intermediate bulk containers (IBC) near Moscow.
Greif, which already runs an IBC unit in Kazan, in the Tatarstan region, has opened the 5,500-square-meter plant in the Vorsino Industrial Park, just south of the Russian capital. The plant is located next to a steel drum factory that the group opened last year.
Delaware, Ohio-based Greif expects to double its national bulk container capacity with the launch of its latest cube-shaped G CUBE IBC container unit.
“The investment will allow us to better serve our existing customers by offering more flexibility, reduced lead times and lower transportation costs as well as the ability to dispatch combined batches of steel drums and IBCs,” Konstantin Savinov, group operations director for Eastern Europe, said.
The new plant will also provide capacity to secure new contracts, especially in the food industry, as well as coatings, petrochemicals and specialty chemicals, he added.
Greif now operates seven steel drum plants in western and central Russia, with other units molding large polycarbonate water bottles in Omsk, Siberia and Vologda, Russia. The firm also makes cardboard multilayer packaging in the country.
The U.S. group sees significant potential through further development of its activities in neighboring countries and plans to continue introducing new types of industrial packaging and services to its clientele.
Greif said in the medium term it intends to strengthen its presence in the plastic packaging market and “present solutions in the field of collecting and restoring different types of industrial packaging.”
Throughout 2019, the company has also been investing in capacity expansion in Europe and North Africa. It installed a new blow molding machine for IBC production at a plant at Ede, Netherlands, and later invested in another blow molder to produce plastic jerry cans up to 25 liters at another facility in Casablanca, Morocco.