MOSCOW (MRC) -- OMV Machinery S.R.L. (Verona, Italy), a division of Swiss-based Wifag/Polytype Holding AG, has been purchased by Florida-based MalStra LLC (Royal Palm Beach, Fl.). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, said Ptonline.
Plastics packaging industry veterans Mark Strachan and Brooke Maltun are the owners of MalStra and will lead the new business to be named OMV Technologies LLC. It will be headquartered in Florida with manufacturing operations to continue out of Italy and all current personnel to be retained.
Strachan, who will serve as the CEO of OMV Technologies, has almost 40 years of experience in sheet extrusion, roll-fed thermoforming and extrusion inline thermoforming, as well as two terms as chairman of the board for the Society of Plastics Engineers Thermoforming Division. Maltun, who is currently the VP of Sales for Los Angeles-based custom thermoformed packaging maker Star Plastic Design, will serve as president of OMV Technologies.
In a release, Strachan and Maltun stressed OMV’s strengths, including the ability to offer turnkey inline extrusion thermoforming systems and technology leadership in ‘cut in place’ technology and inline rim rolling of round and square containers.
The company said it plans to continue building machines and tooling in Italy, while “beefing up” operations in Italy and the U.S. Along those lines, OMV will be opening extrusion thermoforming and product development labs, as well as a training facility, in Florida. In addition, all U.S. based parts and service will be relocated from Polytype America’s current location in New Jersey to Florida.
Maltun said the company will be hiring personnel for its headquarters is in Florida, as well as an office in Los Angeles, in addition to more sales and service personnel.
As MRC wrote before, OMV is investing EUR40 million (USD48 million) to expand and modernize a steam cracker and associated units at its refining and petrochemicals complex at Burghausen, Germany. The upgrade will increase the site’s ethylene and propylene production capacity by 50,000 metric tons/year. Following a planned turnaround of the refinery, the revamped cracker and petchem units are expected to start operations in the third quarter of 2022. Initial groundwork is already underway ahead of the upgrade.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
OMV produces and markets oil and gas, innovative energy and high-end petrochemical solutions – in a responsible way. With Group sales of EUR 23 bn and a workforce of around 20,000 employees in 2019, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies.
MRC