Printer News

Berry Plastics Corporation Completes 
Acquisition of Pliant Corporation
EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Berry Plastics Corp. has completed its previously announced acquisition of 100 percent of the common stock of Pliant Corp. Pliant Corp. emerged from bankruptcy effective December 3, 2009. The newly acquired business will be operated as Berry's Specialty Films Division and will be run by R. David Corey, the former chief operating officer of Pliant. Berry's current Flexible Films Division will now be known as the Film Products Division.

Astro-Med Acquires Label Line

WEST WARWICK, R.I.—Astro-Med, Inc. has acquired Label Line Ltd., a manufacturer of labels and tags located in Asheboro, N.C. Label Line will become part of Astro-Med's QuickLabel Systems brand, a manufacturer of digital color label printers and related labels, tags, and ink supplies. The facilities and employees of the former Label Line will remain in North Carolina, and enable QuickLabel Systems to serve customers nationwide with high-end offset and flexographic printed labels, hot stamp labels, string tag labels, apparel labels and tags, bar code labels, and specialty custom-printed materials, according to the company.

Commenting on the acquisition, Albert W. Ondis, Astro-Med CEO said: "The acquisition of Label Line is in accordance with the Three Year Strategic Business Plan we adopted in August, which calls for us to make a few modest acquisitions that, along with internal growth, will drive our revenue toward the $100 million mark. We expect this acquisition to allow us to realize approximately $5 million in sales that will be accretive to revenues as well as earnings."

Bill Lineberry, former president of Label Line, will join QuickLabel Systems as a consultant.

RockTenn Receives P&G Supplier Award

NORCROSS, Ga.—RockTenn was named a 2009 "Supplier of the Year" by Procter & Gamble (P&G), the highest honor in its global supplier category. RockTenn was one of only seven companies named "Supplier of the Year" among P&G's 80,000 global suppliers.

Jim Rubright, RockTenn chairman and CEO says, "We are grateful to P&G for giving us the opportunity to work together to develop low-cost, sustainable packaging solutions to advance their purpose-driven strategy and for recognizing our co-workers' achievements with this award."

"From market changing innovation to supply chain excellence, our supply partners are foundational for building a stronger future," says Rick Hughes, P&G's vice president of Global Purchases. "P&G is at our best when we have fostered relationships with our external business partners that enable collaboration in achieving our mutual goals, addressing challenges and delivering ongoing innovation."

Outlook Group Signs Medical 
Packaging Contract With TekPackaging LLC

NEENAH, Wis.—Outlook Group Corp. announced it has signed a 5-year agreement with TekPackaging LLC., based in Huntley, Ill., to provide a complete medical packaging solution for its Thermoscan ear-thermometer probe-cover business. Outlook Group will produce and print folding cartons and complete the final packaging process on more than 600 million units per year. It expects to begin shipping finished product in spring of 2010.

"This is a great opportunity to provide a total packaging solution to TekPackaging that leverages our clean room and available capacity on our presses," says president and CEO of Outlook, Glen Yurjevich.

Randy Loga, president and CEO of TekPackaging, says, "We are excited to be partnering with Outlook Group on this project, which will be Tek's largest supply contract."

New Organization Structure for Amcor

MELBOURNE, Australia—As Amcor prepares for the acquisition of the Alcan Packaging operations, a proposed new organization structure and senior management for the combined business was announced. The transaction remains subject to regulatory reviews in Europe and the United States and consultations with the European Works Council. The new structure will not be implemented until all relevant approvals are received and the transaction is closed.

Amcor will be organized into the following business groups with the respective presidents reporting directly into the Managing Director and CEO, Ken Mackenzie:

• Amcor Flexibles - Europe and Americas, Peter Brues

• Amcor Rigid Plastics, 
Bill Long

• Amcor Australasia, 
Nigel Garrard

• Amcor Tobacco Packaging, Peter Konieczny

• Amcor Flexibles - Asia Pacific, Ralf Wunderlich

• Amcor Sunclipse, Eric Bloom

• AMVIG, Billy Chan

Colbert Packaging Completes Two Acquisitions

CHICAGO—Colbert Packaging Corporation has completed the acquisitions of two folding carton manufacturers, Dayton Carton in Louisville, Ky., and Crown Paper Box in Indianapolis, Ind. The acquisition of Dayton Carton is all-inclusive of its facility, equipment, inventory, employees, customer accounts, and all other assets. Colbert Packaging is retaining the Dayton Carton facility in Louisville and rebranding it as one of its own. The acquisition of Crown Paper Box includes its customer accounts, inventory, and account managers. Crown Paper Box customers formerly serviced out of Indianapolis are now being serviced through existing Colbert facilities in Lake Forest, Ill., Elkhart, Ind., and the newly acquired Louisville facility.

"It is an honor to welcome customers and employees of Dayton Carton and Crown Paper Box into the Colbert family," says Jim Hamilton, president of Colbert Packaging. "These acquisitions are firmly rooted in our strategic vision and continued growth, and we are pleased to be able to provide additional service and capacity to Crown and Dayton customers, as well as to Colbert's existing regional and national customers through the Louisville operation. At the same time, we are excited to be able to offer Dayton and Crown customers our diversified packaging portfolio, the full breadth of our expertise, and the quality and service commitments of our entire team."

PLANO, Texas—McDowell Label & Screen Printing appointed Mark Williams to the position of sales manager. Williams has several years of experience in the printng industry serving in a variety of sales and sales management roles.

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.—Disc Graphics announced that Richard Roth has joined the company as its chief strategy officer. Roth previously served as executive vice president in sales and marketing for both Queens Group and AGI Media.

HARTSVILLE, S.C.—Sonoco has named Jack Sanders executive vice president, consumer, effective January 1, 2010. He will succeed Charles Sullivan who is retiring as of March 31, 2010. Sanders has been with the company for 22 years and will have global operating responsibility for all of Sonoco's businesses serving consumer markets.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—Dr. Jane Severin has joined Oliver-Tolas Healthcare Packaging as its director of technology. She brings more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and packaging industries to the organization. Severin will be responsible for the company's technology strategy, product development and maintenance, and design control, along with its technical compliance with regulatory standards, test method development, and process validation.

In addition, the company hired Jim Ferry as director of operations for its Grand Rapids, Mich. facility, and expanded the responsibilities of Teri Meadow, director of marketing and strategic development, to include the development and implementation of strategic growth initiatives. pP