CCL Industries making big investments, acquisition

Toronto-based specialty label and packaging solutions provider CCL Industries Inc. has announced a series of new investments, including $30 million invested in its CCL Design operations division in the U.S. and Mexico.

The division focuses on the automotive, electronics and domestic appliance markets.

CCL’s investments also include the acquisition of the assets of INT America LLC, a Detroit, Mich.-based producer of metal tread plates for domestic automotive OEMs using third-party component suppliers in Asia.

The company also announced plans to build a green field plant in Guanajuato, Mexico and significantly expand its existing U.S. production in Clinton, S.C. and Strongsville, Ohio.

Finally, CCL will also invest in new converting technologies to create additional capacity for functional labels, die cut films, decorative laminates and metal tread plates in the U.S. and Mexico.

The company said these capital expenditures will be made over the next 18 months.

“Automotive and other durable goods end-use markets have been beneficiaries of the recent economic recovery in the United States,” said Geoffrey Martin, CCL’s president and CEO. “These investments allow us to offer a common product portfolio to OEM customers globally as CCL Design continues to represent an important new market sector for our company. The metal tread plates we will manufacture in North America match the programs we have had in place in Germany for some years. We expect CCL Design to generate a 20 per cent pre-tax incremental annual return on the additional capital by 2017.”

CCL employs about 10,250 people and operates 99 production facilities in 28 countries.