We've updated our North American blow molders ranking this week. Some 109 companies are listed with related sales, processes, number of plants and a lot more data, both in print and online.
This report takes a look at the 2022 fiscal year, since 2023 isn't over yet, for those who keep asking which year we are highlighting. I'd need an entire case of lightweighted clones to get out all our rankings in the first quarter of an editorial calendar. November is typically when we publish this report. That gives us the advantage of incorporating recent news in our details.
With a combined total of $21.3 billion, these blow molders added $790 million dollars to our ranking over the previous year. In fact, 14 of our top 20 show gains, and the average sales per company is up 2.9 percent.
In this ranking, we separate out bottle blow molders, while everything else is categorized as industrial. Remaining at an 80/20 split, bottles represent $17 billion. With PET raw material pricing up 50 percent in the same period, that figure isn't a surprise. What is surprising, however, is that medical, nonbeverage food and chemicals make up the biggest end markets.
Where'd everybody go?
We dropped from 116 ranked firms to 109. So, where did they go? Greif Inc. and Hub Plastics Inc. made acquisitions that consolidated a few. Plus, four smaller firms were unverified at the time we went to print. Companies not responding isn't enough to disqualify a blow molder, but these firms were extra hard to confirm whether they are still operating. As we do occasionally, we'll welcome back any company, anytime. In these cases, we do frequently find out they've experienced business changes.
Biggest news
The acquisitions of Lee Container Inc. in December 2022 and Reliance Products Ltd. in October make Greif our biggest gainer at 175 percent, with estimated pro forma sales of $330 million. The company now ranks at No. 17, up from No. 23 last year. Greif also has plans to acquire iPackChem Group, which includes ranked TPG Plastics LLC of Murray, Ky.
Also in the news, No. 15 ABC Technologies has an agreement to be acquired by Alpha Holdings and will delist from the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Ranking Spotlight
I've shined the Ranking Spotlight on Flexcraft Co., a maker of medical devices and custom containers in Neptune City, N.J.
Our biggest movers
• Holocraft Corp. dba Flexcraft Co. of Neptune City, N.J., moved up 52 spaces to rank at No. 48.
• Den Hartog Industries Inc. of Hospers, Iowa, moved up 20 spaces to rank at No. 77.
• Arch Plastics Packaging LLC of Chattanooga, Tenn., moved up 18 spaces to rank at No. 58.
• Cado Products Inc. of Fitchburg, Mass., moved up 10 spaces to rank at No. 97.
• Falcon Plastics Inc. of Brookings, S.D., moved up nine spaces to rank at No. 101.
• Hub Plastics Inc. of Blacklick, Ohio, moved up eight spaces to rank at No. 53.
• ISGO Manufacturing of Monterrey, Mexico, moved up eight spaces to rank at No. 107.
Happy 60th anniversary to health care packaging firm Drug Plastics & Glass Co. Inc. in Boyertown, Pa.
Happy 50th anniversary to custom molder Confer Plastics Inc. in North Tonawanda, N.Y.
You can find the complete listings online at www.plasticsnews.com/blow-molders. Downloads of the MS Excel files require a data level subscription. For more information on how to sign up, fill out this form at www.plasticsnews.com/DataSubscription.
If you work for a company that is missing from the ranking, then we would like to include you next time. Just send a note to Hollee Keller at [email protected] 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.