Amcor Rigid Plastics expands bottle manufacturing due to demand
The expansion to the Orlando, Florida site enables the firm to centralise preform manufacturing and warehousing while delivering sustainability advantages including improved logistics and shipping efficiencies.
The multi-million-dollar investment funded major infrastructure work to convert the unit into manufacturing, warehousing, and office space.
Range of products
The facility, which is already up and running, is for production of hot fill and cold fill polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles for beverages such as sports drinks and orange juice, along with high density polyethylene (HDPE) pharmaceutical containers.
Amcor has already started to produce hot fill PET bottles and cold fill PET carafes for citrus beverages and production of HDPE and LDPE containers.
Amcor will manufacture a majority of its preforms in house at Orlando, eliminating the previous cost associated with shipping in preforms.
“During this strong period of growth for our business, we’re thrilled to be able to bring our multi-technology and multi-material offering to this expanded new facility in Orlando,” said Larry Weber, vice president and general manager for Amcor’s North American beverage business unit.
“Our focus is to meet the expanded needs of our customers while also attracting new business.”
Site location
Amcor relocated from an existing 168,000 square foot plant near the Florida Turnpike to a new leased 500,000 square foot facility within the Airport Industrial Park of Orlando, just a few miles from the former location.
The expanded facility will eliminate the need for three offsite warehousing sites and result in a increase of 29 jobs with employment reaching 150 workers by next year, according to Amcor plant manager Mark Lambrite.
Amcor added it also had room for further manufacturing expansion if market demand required.
Earlier this month, the firm expanded the use of one of its aluminium closures to target the wine and spirit market.
Amcor said the roll-on-pilfer-proof (ROPP) finish design for PET bottles meets the growing demand for premium packaging for the wine and spirits segments.
