US plastics machinery manufacturer Milacron (Batavia, Ohio; www.milacron.com) is investing more than EUR 16m in its manufacturing and distribution facilities for “Uniloy”, “DME” and “Tirad” systems and technologies in Policka and Šašovice, in the Czech Republic.

In Policka, a new production facility for Uniloy blow moulding machine systems is scheduled to open this month. The EUR 11m facility is more than 11,000 m² in size, allowing for future expansion, the company said.

The projects in Šašovice are expected to be completed in April and include a 1,000 m² expansion to the existing manufacturing facility for Tirad products – which include custom mould bases and other parts for injection moulding – plus a new 3,000 m² distribution centre. The investment of more than EUR 5m will boost the Tirad and DME businesses, and increase the focus on the Tirad high precision, non-standard mould bases, Milacron said.

The Policka and Šašovice facilities will act as key locations for the three product brands, offering deliveries and support to customers across Europe. “We knew that expansion and investment in Europe was required in order to support our growing customer base” said John Gallagher, COO for melt delivery and control systems/fluid technologies and financial and shared services. “The facilities in the Czech Republic allow us to offer more support, more flexibility and more product inventory, all at faster delivery times.”

Ron Krisanda, COO and president of the company’s advanced plastic processing technologies, said the Policka investment “represents a major step forward in our plans to become a global supplier of blow moulding machinery systems. As it is, we tend to be regionally oriented in our approach to the market and are not taking full advantage of the technologies, footprint and best practices of Milacron."