In what it bills as “an important expansion step,” Plastikwerk Expan (A-9241 Wernberg; www.expan.at) has relocated an entire production facility from Klagenfurt, Austria, to a new site at Wernberg/Villach. Production floor space of the company that claims a leading position as system supplier of plastics packaging for the cosmetics, household products and pharmaceutical industries has been increased threefold to 14,000 m².

Formerly used by Legrand Österreich GmbH (A-1210 Wien; www.legrand.co.at), a supplier of electric installation material for low voltage applications, the new facility was already suitable for plastics processing. Expan invested EUR 6m to modernise the site and acquire new machinery. New equipment for extrusion blow moulding and injection moulding as well as further automation has boosted production capability by 25%, the company said.

Managing director Martin Depisch points to further potential for Expan in the PET segment. The increasing substitution of PET for conventional glass and cardboard packaging in food and cosmetics applications is expected to generate more growth, particularly among existing customers. The new production site will provide the infrastructure for the envisaged PET production.

In 2003, Expan, which has 150 employees, posted sales of EUR 13m, with around 90% generated by exports. Principal export markets are Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland and Scandinavia, and the major customers are cosmetics producers such as L´Oreal, Wella, Henkel and Schwarzkopf.