Flexopack USA Inc. will invest $33 million to establish its first American manufacturing facility in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. The project will create at least 64 new, full-time jobs. The Greece-based company will build a 107,000-square-foot, rail-served facility in North Lebanon Township, as the first phase of a three-phase project. This initiative will expand the company’s packaging product manufacturing footprint into the U.S., including its role as the primary packaging supplier for Pennsylvania-based poultry company Bell & Evans.
A subsidiary of Flexopack International Limited, Flexopack USA is a wholesale distributor of flexible packaging with special emphasis in co-extrusion of barrier and non-barrier films. Flexopack’s primary market is the food industry, with emphasis in meat, poultry, cheese, and fish.
“Our new manufacturing facility in Lebanon County aims to strengthen the already significant commercial presence of Flexopack Group in the U.S. market,” said Stamatios Gkinosatis, CEO, Flexopack S.A. “We are thrilled about our decision to proceed with this investment in Lebanon which will also further support — through local manufacturing — the increased packaging material requirements of our close partner Bell and Evans. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank my friend and partner Scott Sechler for the great and continuous support in our investment in Lebanon. Our cooperation with the local authorities of Lebanon and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has been excellent and as foreign investors we are very pleased with the warm welcome that we have received.”
“Bell & Evans is proud to have Flexopack as a vendor partner for over 10 years,” commented Scott Sechler, Sr., Owner and Chairman, Bell & Evans. “Being a family-owned supplier, their focus on high quality, consistent materials align exceptionally well with Bell & Evans and our premium brand. We look forward to our continued long-term partnership and are thrilled to support them in their first USA facility, right here in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.”
Flexopack received a funding proposal from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) for a $500,000 Pennsylvania First grant. The company was also encouraged to apply for the Manufacturing Tax Credit program (MTC), and the Rail Freight Assistance program (RFAP) through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).
“Pennsylvania is the best place in the country for businesses to grow, and I’m proud that Flexopack saw that when choosing the Commonwealth for its first U.S. manufacturing facility,” said Governor Josh Shapiro. “I’m highly competitive, and I’m thrilled that our strong manufacturing and agriculture sectors helped us secure this project over Texas. We’re committed to making meaningful investments in our private sector to position Pennsylvania as an economic leader, create jobs, and bring manufacturing back to the United States.”
“The Lebanon Valley Economic Development Corporation is pleased that Flexopack chose the Lebanon Rails Business Park for their expansion,” said Susan Eberly, President and CEO, Lebanon Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC). “The land is owned by the LVEDC, and has the proper infrastructure, which helped to make this project happen. Recruiting a company that was seeking rail makes the deal even sweeter. We are happy we could help bring this project to the area.”
Hydro Expands In Schuylkill County
In Schuylkill County, Hydro recently opened a new extrusion press and an expanded recycling facility. The combined investment for the two projects is more than $93 million. The new indirect extrusion press replaces two old presses and is part of Hydro’s ongoing efforts to increase efficiency and modernize its operations. The recycling expansion increases the facility’s capacity to more than 270,000 tons per year, Hydro’s largest. After the expansion, the recycling facility will be able to process 64,000 tons of post-consumer scrap annually, an increase of 30,000 tons.
Hydro Cressona is the largest aluminum extrusion site in North America, and produces annually more than 250 million pounds of extrusions for the automotive, commercial transportation, distribution, and infrastructure markets. The extrusion process shapes aluminum by forcing it through a shaped opening in a die.
“At Hydro, we are grateful for the support of the State of Pennsylvania and the local community. Our Cressona facility has been a cornerstone of Schuylkill County for nearly four generations, a legacy made possible by these strong relationships,” said Mike Hammer, Vice President and General Manager, Hydro Extrusion Cressona. “We are proud to supply the building blocks of American manufacturing across almost every industry and we look forward to doing so for many years to come.”
Norwegian company Norsk Hydro acquired the Cressona plant in 2017 and operates it as part of a global Hydro network of manufacturing plants. Norsk Hydro has three additional Pennsylvania facilities located in Mountain Top, Luzerne County; Moon Township, Allegheny County; and Bensalem Township, Bucks County.
Pennsylvania DCED Secretary Rick Siger joined the company in Cressona for its ribbon cutting celebration.
“Congratulations to Hydro on their expansion in Pennsylvania! The company’s investment shows its confidence in our strong workforce and business climate and is a great example of why we’re focused on manufacturing as a key sector in the Commonwealth’s Economic Development Strategy,” said Secretary Siger. “Having a major manufacturer like Hydro continue to grow its roots in our Commonwealth sends a strong message to other businesses looking to expand or move to Pennsylvania that we are open for business.”
MTTC Grants Will Train Skilled Workers In Manufacturing, Robotics
A $400,000 grant to Bucks County Community College’s (BCCC) Industrial Maintenance and Metalwork Training Programs from the Pennsylvania DCED will help meet the growing workforce needs of the area’s advanced manufacturing industry. The Manufacturing PA Training-to-Career (MTTC) grant will be used to train and provide placement services to 50 BCCC students free of charge, helping them launch and sustain their manufacturing careers.
The MTTC grant program works collaboratively with local manufacturers to identify and teach missing essential skills for entry level applicants seeking manufacturing employment, engage youth or those with barriers to career opportunities in manufacturing, and/or advance capacity for local or regional manufacturers.
The commonwealth has invested $700,000 in the two BCCC programs to help recruit and train job-ready workers for the advanced manufacturing industry in southeastern Pennsylvania.
“Manufacturing has always been the backbone of Pennsylvania’s economy, and our investment in BCCC’s Industrial Maintenance and Metalwork Training programs will provide a classroom-to-career experience for students while meeting the needs of the region’s advanced manufacturers,” said Gwen Ross, DCED Director of Workforce Development Initiatives.
Working with manufacturing industry partners, the programs provide students with hands-on experience for manufacturing jobs as machinists, maintenance and mechanical technicians, and maintenance mechanics. Students will tour job sites, be mentored by industry professionals, and placed in jobs upon graduation. Since both programs began, more than 470 students have graduated, and more than 90 percent of program graduates have been placed in high-paying careers in advanced manufacturing.
“We are grateful for our partnership with Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development,” said Patrick M. Jones, President and CEO, BCCC President & CEO. “The Training-to-Career grant funding supports our collective efforts to prepare the next generation of skilled workers for good-paying jobs in high-demand fields.”
In more MTTC news, a $200,000 grant will help train more than 2,000 students in Millersville University’s Robotic WorX program. The program equips high school and undergraduate students with the opportunity to address genuine manufacturing problems through automation and robotics.
The MTTC grant will create paid student internships and support training and supplies for the program in Millersville University’s state-of-the-art Solutions Lab. The state’s investment will help ensure that financial barriers do not prevent talented students from participating in the training program.
With help from the MTTC grant, the Robotic WorX program expects to impact more than 2,000 individuals over the next two years through increased high school participations, additional internship, peer mentoring, and engagement events for local organizations. The program provides a link between STEM education and career pathways through internships, job shadow experiences, and tours in which participants engage with cutting-edge automation and robotics technologies.
“We’re very thankful for the grant from the Shapiro Administration,” said John Haughery, Robotic WorX Co-Founder and Program Coordinator of Millersville’s Automation & Robotics Engineering Technology program. “The Robotic WorX program provides so many entry points to Pennsylvania’s automation and robotics pipeline. From first time experience with robotics, to getting your hands on a collaborative robot, to spending a semester long internship developing state-of-the-art automation technologies for real manufacturing problems in PA and beyond, this program offers so much to so many.”
A partnership between Millersville University and Precision Cobotics, the Robotic WorX program connects middle school, high school, undergraduate, and community groups in Lancaster County with real-world STEM career training in manufacturing to meet the growing need of the region’s industry.
“This hands-on experience, using the latest in AI and robotics technologies, creates clear career pathways in this exciting field,” said John Bridgen, Robotic WorX Co-Founder and Director of Customer Satisfaction and Co-Worker Advancement at Precision Cobotics. “I found my passion for the field of automation and manufacturing when I was given a college internship in the packaging department at M&M/Mars in Elizabethtown. This grant from the Shapiro Administration pays that forward by allowing us to connect the real-world problems of manufacturing in Pennsylvania with area high school STEM students.”
