Sofidel Investing $360M In Oklahoma

The global tissue production group will employ 300 full-time workers at its new greenfield plant in Inola, OK when it is fully operational in 2020.

Sofidel will invest $360 million over three years to build a new integrated plant paper production plant in Inola, OK, about 30 miles east of Tulsa. It will be the tissue paper producers’ second greenfield investment in the U.S.: the company’s first, in Circleville, OH, will be completed by the end of this year. Two tissue technology machines, for a total output of 120,000 metric tons a year, will be installed in Inola together with the corresponding converting lines to make the finished products: toilet tissue and towels. The new plant will combine sustainability and technological innovation.

Sofidel Inola, OK
Luigi Lazzareschi, CEO of Sofidel Group
(PRNewsfoto/Sofidel)

“I’m pleased to be able to announce this new greenfield investment, the second in America, following the one in Circleville, Ohio. The purpose of this new investment is to make a significant contribution to our growth in the United States, one of the most important markets for our Group,” said Luigi Lazzareschi, CEO of the Sofidel Group. “We’re going to build a state-of-the-art integrated plant in Inola to serve the South-Central and Central-Western United States, a market where we’ve had a presence since 2012 and where we’ve grown quickly, year after year.”

Construction of the plant will begin this month and will be completed by mid 2020, while the converting production lines and warehouse will already be up and running by mid-2019. Once fully operational, the new plant will employ 300 full-time workers.

Headquartered in Italy, Sofidel is the second largest tissue paper manufacturer in Europe, and sixth worldwide, with a turnover of 1,842 million euros (2016) and a production capacity of more than 1 million metric tons a year. The company has grown its operations in the U.S. with production plants in Green Bay, WI; Haines City, FL; Henderson, NV; Tulsa, OK; and Hattiesburg, MS; and its American headquarters is located in Philadelphia, PA.

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