According to PRW.com, Schoeller Arca Systems, the global returnable packaging manufacturer, has begun producing plastic shipping pallets at a new plant in Starovo in central Russia.
Before the launch of the €5m facility, Zwolle, Netherlands-based Schoeller Arca had to supply the Russian pallet market from different Western European plants.
“With local production, we can significantly reduce the cost and serve the growing demand for high quality pallets at affordable prices,” said Natalya Shishkina, chief executive of the group’s Russian subsidiary. The new unit is located in Russia’s Vladimir region.
Schoeller Arca Systems already operates a separate production plant in Russia. That unit manufactures plastic shipping containers in Vsevolozhsk, north east of St Petersburg. The firm says it intends to increase capacity at both its Russian plants in the future. It has two national sales offices in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod.
The group, which produces a range of plastics returnable packaging for materials handling, including crates, pallets and trays, and transit containers, achieved 2009 annual sales of €470m. It has a workforce of around 1,000.
The group is the result of a merger of Netherlands company Schoeller Wavin Systems with Sweden’s Arca Systems in 2005. That deal formed what was then the world’s biggest materials handling returnable packaging manufacturer.
Richard Higgs (PRW.com)