Den Helder, Netherlands – Lightweight Containers has started up a new production line to make KeyKeg Slimlines and UniKegs. The new line is in Joliet, Illinois (US). The fully automated computer- and robot-driven line can produce the entire Slimline and UniKeg series depending on demand. Logoplaste supports and oversees the line’s daily production.
With the new line, Lightweight Containers is preparing for the rapid growth it anticipates in the United States. Anita Veenendaal, CCO of Lightweight Containers, says, “In the last six years, our worldwide sales have grown by more than 40% a year. A production line in the US will enable us to respond to the growing demand more quickly and flexibly. We also know that there’s broad support from the American society for setting up a factory there, since we’re contributing to the US economy.”
The new plant was designed in close collaboration with the manufacturing specialist Logoplaste. Logoplaste takes care of organizing the line’s daily production. Jan Veenendaal CEO of Lightweight Containers has this to say about this partnership: “Working with Logoplaste is enabling us to grow faster in the US, as well as to concentrate more on R&D, sales, and marketing. Logoplaste is a highly professional production partner who completely shares our views on quality and continuity. The new production line is a logical consequence of our strategy of producing as closely as possible to our customers.”
David Batey, Regional Commercial Director for Logoplaste NCEE: “Logoplaste and Lightweight Containers are both ambitious, successful family firms and we speak the same language. Besides that Lightweight Containers knows the ins and outs of both the production line and the manufacturing process through and through. Because of this we were able to round off the preparations quickly, professionally and successfully. The
start of the fully automated production line went well and we’re now producing at full capacity.”
KeyKegs are now produced at three locations: Schwerin (Germany), Den Helder (the Netherlands) and Joliet (USA). A fourth production line in Germany will be opened in mid-2016. UniKegs will be produced in Joliet (USA).
About Lightweight Containers:
Lightweight Containers BV is the company behind the KeyKeg and UniKeg brands. These unique lightweight kegs combine groundbreaking R&D and advanced production methods with a clear understanding of what our customers want. The result is two complete families of one-way kegs that stand out in the market due to their innovation, quality, convenience, safety and sustainability.
Lightweight Containers is striving for a circular economy and has enshrined this in its corporate objectives. KeyKeg and UniKegs are sustainable alternatives to other types of packaging and Lightweight Containers is working hard to make this distinction even greater.
Producers and distributors of beer, wine, cider and soft drinks are making the switch to our kegs, which are now in use in over 180 countries. Our ambition for the coming years is to continue growing on every continent. Lightweight Containers is currently producing keg systems in the US, the Netherlands and Germany. A fourth production line is being built in Germany.
About Logoplaste:
Logoplaste is a family-owned industrial group, manufacturing rigid plastic packaging for some of the most reputable companies in the world, in the food and beverage, personal care, household care and oil and lubricants sectors. Logoplaste has extensive experience with “through the wall” production, in which Logoplaste offers a complete packaging program for their clients.
Today, Logoplaste manages more than 60 factories, more than 350 machines, with locations in 16 countries: Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Poland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom, the USA and Vietnam. The most up-to-date technologies in injection molding, stretch-blow molding and extrusion molding are used to produce packages across the wide range of market segments.