Mauer USA plans to expand its Hebron, Kentucky, caps and closures plant by one-third in 2012, adding more injection-molding manufacturing capacity, warehousing space to meet growing demand from cosmetics, personal-care sectors

Bdebbie Garcia

LOS ANGELES , October 20, 2011 (Industry Intelligence) – A expansion at Mauer USA’s Hebron, Kentucky, caps and closures plant is planned in an effort to meet growing demand from the cosmetics and personal-case industries, Plastics News reported on Oct. 19.

Talks are under way to add as much as 20,000 square feet to the plant’s existing 40,000 square feet of space in 2012, said Jim Rivard, the company’s VP of operations, in an Oct. 7 interview.

The expansion would include increasing manufacturing capacity and warehousing space to the plant, which opened in 2007.

The design would mimic existing European-style building and have a central warehouse with comparably-sized manufacturing areas on either side, said Rivard, Plastics News reported.

The Kentucky plant -- which has been operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week since March 2010 -- injection molds polypropylene flip-top and snap-on caps in sizes from 20 to 50 millimeters and some secondary polyethylene components.

Mauer USA continues to innovate, especially with lightweighting, said Rivard, noting that one customer recently requested a 50-mm flip-top that was 30% lighter than anything the company now makes in that size, reported Plastics News.

Especially for the 50-mm closure, the company is “pushing the limits and moving the mark, as far as what is possible for the thin-walled closure,” Rivard said.

The company employs 23 in molding, warehousing and assembly operations.

All of the company’s tooling comes from Germany. It operates 19 of KraussMaffei Corp.’s CX-series all-hydraulic, twin-platen injection molding machines. These have high-pressure air-feed systems, robotic unloaders and self-contained packaging units, Plastics News reported.

In early October, two KraussMaffei CX-350 units were delivered and will be outfitted with a 16-cavity mold for making shampoo and conditioner bottle closures.

Florence, Kentucky-based Mauer USA is the U.S. subsidiary of Kutterer Mauer AG of Karlsruhe, Germany.

In addition to its Kentucky plant, the privately-owned parent company operates plants in Karlsruhe, Ubstadt-Weiher and Drei Gleichen, Germany, and in Trzebiel, Poland. It customers include F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., L´Oréal Group, Nestlé SA, Procter & Gamble and Sara Lee Corp., reported Plastics News.

The primary source of this article is Plastics News, Akron, Ohio, on Oct. 19, 2011.

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