Irish corrugated packaging company Smurfit Kappa has completed its previously announced investment of more than €20m ($20.8m) to upgrade its manufacturing plants in Europe.
The plants are located in Olomouc, Czech Republic, and Obaly Štúrovo, Slovakia.
Smurfit Kappa has installed advanced equipment at the facilities to expand their capacity and address growing customer demand for paper-based packaging.
In addition, the company has added converting equipment that is expected to increase its capacity by more than 100 million regular and offset printed boxes a year.
The investment is part of Smurfit Kappa’s efforts to invest in its Central and Eastern European operations.
It will also enable Smurfit Kappa to target its services at certain industries, including the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and electro-technical sectors.
Smurfit Central and South-East Europe CEO Zdenek Suchitra said: “I am delighted to announce that both of our investments at the Olomouc and Obaly Štúrovo plants have finished on time and within our original budget in a time when there is a scarcity of all kinds of materials.
“These investments, along with the investments we made in two additional sites in the Czech Republic, demonstrate our commitment to our customers and operations in Central and Eastern Europe.
“Through these investments, which have created state-of-the-art facilities for our plants, we are excellently positioned to satisfy our well-established customer base, while also venturing into the FMCG, e-commerce and electro-technical sectors.
“We are in a strong position to continue to deliver our high-quality sustainable solutions, as well as a best-in-class efficiency to the market and to be a better place to work for our people.”
Based in Dublin, Smurfit Kappa supplies paper packaging to companies in 23 European countries and 13 countries in the Americas.
Last week, the company agreed to buy Pusa Pack, a bag-in-box packaging plant in Spain.
