Placon acquires plastics injection molding firm

Placon, a custom and stock rigid thermoformed packaging designer and manufacturer based in Madison, Wisconsin, has completed the acquisition of Plastic Packaging Corp. (PPC), based in West Springfield, Massachusetts. PPC manufacturers injected molded polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) rigid plastic containers.

“Looking toward the future, combining with Placon is the perfect fit for our customers and employees,” says Susan Weiss Firestone, PPC’s president.

Placon designs and manufactures custom and stock thin-gauge thermoformed plastic clamshells, trays and blisters with a line of recycled PET roll stock materials.

In a press release announcing the deal, Dan Mohs, CEO of Placon, says, “Acquisitions are an important part of our long-term growth plans. Many of our customers use both thermoformed and injection-molded packaging. By integrating these technologies, we will broaden our food packaging portfolio and provide our customers with more options and greater value.”

Placon offers both custom and stock lines of thermoformed food containers in PP and recycled PET materials. The company currently runs up to 100 percent post-consumer recycled EcoStar brand material from bottles and thermoforms in its PET food packaging lines, an area where Mohs sees future opportunity in expanding the company’s sustainability solutions to PPC’s current and future product lines.

PPC’s 100,000-square-foot West Springfield location will bring the total number of Placon-operated facilities to five. The facilities include the company’s primary headquarters and EcoStar recycling facility at its Madison campus location, a distribution center in DeForest, Wisconsin, and its medical packaging operations headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana.