Rexam expands US bottle, jar closure plant

The move at the its Hot Springs, Arkansas, plant comas as part of the UK-based packaging giant’s strategy to reorganise its US business by closing a number of sites and moving equipment to other facilities.

The revamp will see the Arkansas site receive machinery from other plants that will boost its production capacity from 1 billion to between 12-18bn pieces a year. The plant produces closure for the beverage and personal care industries.

It is expected the work force will be increased from 250 to around 400.

The Hot Springs plant, which now has about 250 workers, will receive equipment from another Rexam factory that will enable it to produce between 12 billion and 18 billion pieces per year, compared to production of about 1 billion pieces per year now.

“Consistent with our restructuring plan to match beverage closures demand with capacity, we are consolidating operations resulting in the creation of jobs in Hot Springs,” said Malcolm Harrison, group director, Rexam Plastic Packaging.