Amcor opens China’s largest flexible packaging plant and sells factories in Russia

Amcor, one of the global leaders in responsible packaging, has opened its new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Huizhou, China. With an investment of almost 100 million USD, the 590,000 sqft plant is the largest flexible packaging plant by production capacity in China, further strengthening Amcor’s ability to meet growing customer demand throughout Asia Pacific.

The new facility is expected to employ more than 550 people, who will produce flexible packaging for food and personal-care products. The plant comes equipped with the first automated packaging production line in China. This, along with high-speed printing presses, laminators, and bag-making machines, can deliver double-digit reductions in manufacturing cycle times.

Amcor is also deploying the first smart production and operation system in the Chinese flexible packaging industry, which includes smart laser scanners, light curtains, high-standard machine guarding and multiple quality-control points. All key process equipment is also CE-certified to stringent European Union health, safety and environmental requirements. Other benefits of the new state-of-the-art facility are traceability throughout the production cycle, a climate-controlled production environment and low-carbon emission production.

‘This investment is a testament to our commitment to grow with our customers in China and throughout the Asia Pacific by bringing the best of Amcor’s global expertise closer to them,’ said Xin She, vice president and general manager of Amcor Greater China. ‘The world-class capabilities of our new plant are designed to enable us to exceed our customers’ expectations of quality, responsiveness and innovation.’

The plant features three labs with innovative testing and analytical capabilities to fully leverage the expertise from the recently opened Amcor Asia Pacific Innovation Center in Jiangyin, China, helping to accelerate the development of responsible packaging solutions.

The new Huizhou site also includes several sustainability features, including the latest regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTO) system to reduce harmful emissions, as well as a number of energy-reduction, heat-recovery, low-power consumption and rainwater harvesting systems to help reduce its carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Amcor sells factories in Russia

The company has also completed the sale of its three factories in Russia to HS Investments, a Russian-based investor, after receiving all necessary regulatory approvals and cash proceeds, including receipt of closing cash balances. The cash and debt-free consideration value is 370 million EUR.

This follows Amcor’s previously announced decision to pursue the orderly sale of its Russian business while continuing to support its people and customers as well as preserve value for shareholders.

The Russian business produces flexible and cartons packaging from one site in St. Petersburg and two sites in Novgorod and employs approximately 900 people. Amcor’s three sites in Russia generated approximately two percent of total Amcor sales in fiscal 2022.

Cash proceeds are expected to be used primarily for debt repayment and share repurchases. The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on the outlook for fiscal 2023.