Seda International announces US expansion plans
The Italian packing outfit said its new facility, to be located in Racine, would create 189 jobs. The Naples-based company will receive $5.7m in aid from US state authorities: $4.2m in the form tax breaks and a $1.5m block grant.
“I am proud to announce that Seda will locate their North American manufacturing facility here in Wisconsin, creating 189 new jobs in this state,” Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle said.
The Seda Group, which produces packaging for ice cream, beverages and fast food containers, is one of the world’s largest paper converting companies for the food industry. It has 13 companies and 12 manufacturing facilities throughout Europe.
“Seda makes great packaging products used worldwide, and we are very happy to open our first North American manufacturing facility in Wisconsin,” said Gianfranco D'Amato, Managing Director of Seda International Packaging Group. “Wisconsin’s well-trained workforce and Governor Doyle’s personal pitch to our company are among the major reasons we are locating our manufacturing operations in Wisconsin, and we look forward to a long and successful relationship with the State.”
Growth
This marks the latest move from the company as part of its expansion strategy. Earlier this year, it announced plans to invest ₤12m over four years to boost capacity at its factory in Wales. The cash injection came on top of the £2.5m Seda had already in a new production line for cartons and in a high quality high-speed printing machine.
Seda is not the only Italian packaging company to signal its ambition to break into the lucrative US market. In June, Guala Group said it had formed a joint venture called Cheer Pack North America with US-based CFD Corporation and Japan’s Hosokawa Yoko to develop spouted packaging technology in North America.
The company told FoodProductionDaily.com at the time it hoped the move would help it gain a major foothold in the growth of the nascent spouted flexible pouch market.
