Packaging products and systems company Intertape Polymer Group has commissioned its second water-activated tapes line at its Midland facility in North Carolina, US.
Image: Water-activated tapes are primarily used in e-commerce market for carton sealing. Photo: courtesy of SundayMorning / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Intertape Polymer Group (IPG) has installed the new at the facility for the production of commercial tapes.
Water-activated tapes are mainly used in the e-commerce market for carton sealing to decrease both pilferage and workforce injury from repetitive motion. The tape is also provided with an option to make attractive prints.
IPG completed construction of the Midland facility in 2017, while commissioned the first line in the fourth quarter of the same year. The company invested $48m to install the first line at the facility.
For serving as a sister line to the first, the second line has been installed with an investment of around $13.4m.
The company noted that it IPG invested in additional water-activated tapes capacity in anticipation of demand. The footprint and design of the facility will enable additional expansion, if required by the company.
IPG also manufactures water-activated tapes at its Menasha facility in Wisconsin, in addition to the Midland facility.
IPG president and CEO Greg Yull said: “The e-commerce market is the fastest growing segment of our business. Our expansion at Midland enables us to match production with the growth in demand we are experiencing now and anticipate in the future.
“The second line leverages the original investment at the facility, which is on track to meeting our after tax internal rate of return threshold of 15%. As such, we anticipate a step function improvement in the return from the second line once it’s operating at optimal production.
“As a result, the second line is an important element of our two-year capital investment plan in which we targeted $80 to $90 million in deployed capital in fiscal 2017 and 2018.”
Intertape Polymer is engaged in the development, manufacturing and marketing of different paper and film-based pressure sensitive and water-activated tapes, polyethylene and specialized polyolefin films, protective packaging, woven coated fabrics and complementary packaging systems for industrial and retail applications.