UPM Expands its Labelstock Business in the U.S.

HELSINKI, FINDLAND—UPM Raflatac has announced its plans to build a new pressure sensitive labelstock factory in Dixon, IL, 105 miles west of Chicago. The new factory will focus on serving label converters in the important U.S. Midwest marketplace. The construction of the new facility will start immediately and be completed during the first quarter of 2008. The value of the investment will be approximately $109 million.

The new factory will offer UPM Raflatac's full North American product range of paper and film products. It will feature UPM Raflatac's latest, proprietary technical solutions both in the coating and finishing areas.

"Our target is to be the number one choice of label converters everywhere we operate," says Heikki Pikkarainen, president, UPM Raflatac. "With the Dixon investment, we will complete our service network in the U.S. market, consisting of our labelstock and RFID tag and inlay factories in Fletcher, N.C. and the slitting terminals in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. and Ontario, Calif. Our Fletcher operation has been a great success and we have received an extremely favorable customer reception for our product and service offering in North America. The Dixon factory will enable us to grow further in North America where the market growth is annually approximately 5 percent."

The expansion is a consistent step in UPM's strategy to strengthen UPM Raflatac's global position in the fast-growing labelstock business. Last year UPM Raflatac started up an efficient RFID tag production facility in Fletcher, N.C., where the company also completed its second coating line at its existing pressure sensitive labelstock factory. In Europe, the company will double its film labelstock production capacity. In China, the construction of a new labelstock production facility in Changshu is on schedule and is expected to start up at the beginning of 2007.