Graham Packaging opens plant in St. Louis

December 7, 2009

Graham Packaging opens plant in St. Louis

Kelsey Volkmann
ST. LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL

Graham Packaging Co. said Monday it has begun manufacturing operations at a new on-site plant in St. Louis to make plastic bottles for Purex laundry detergent.

The bottles are made for Henkel Consumer Goods Inc., a subsidiary of German-based Henkel AG and Co., which markets Dial, Purex, Renuzit and Right Guard. In fiscal 2008, Henkel generated sales of $20.8 billion and adjusted operating profit of $2.1 billion.

York, Pa.-based Graham Packaging is “achieving significant savings” in transportation and labor costs by manufacturing the bottles on-site and feeding them directly into production lines, said Peter Lennox, Graham Packaging’s senior vice president for packaging, in a statement.

The plant, located at a Henkel-owned building at 6901 McKissock Ave., employs 13 workers. Donald Sarvey, a Graham Packaging spokesman, declined to disclose how much the company invested in the new plant, citing a quiet period before the company’s initial public offering.

Graham Packaging, which reported sales of nearly $2.6 billion in 2008, makes molded plastic containers for branded food and beverage, household, personal care and automotive lubricant products. It produces more than 20 billion containers a year at 84 plants in North America, Europe and South America. The Blackstone Group of New York is the majority owner of Graham Packaging.