YORK, Pa., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Graham Packaging Company, L.P., has begun manufacturing operations at a new on-site plant in St. Louis with Henkel Consumer Goods, Inc., a subsidiary of Germany-based Henkel AG and Co. KGaA, which markets well-known brands in North America such as Dial®, Purex®, Renuzit®, and Right Guard® .

The new plant is making HDPE plastic bottles for Purex® laundry detergent.

"By manufacturing bottles on site with our customer and feeding them directly into their production lines, we are achieving significant savings for our customer, both in transportation and labor costs. In addition, this supports Graham Packaging's continued efforts to build bottle-blowing operations that are truly sustainable and deliver the lowest carbon footprint," said Graham Packaging Senior Vice President Peter T. Lennox.

Approximately one-third of Graham Packaging's 84 manufacturing facilities are located on-site with customers. Graham Packaging also operates a bottle-manufacturing plant located adjacent to and linked by a conveyer with a Henkel Consumer Goods, Inc., plant in West Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

Graham Packaging, based in York, Pennsylvania, is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of technology-based, customized blow-molded plastic containers for the branded food and beverage, household, personal care/specialty and automotive lubricants product categories.

The company has an extensive blue-chip customer base that includes many of the world's largest branded consumer products companies. It produces more than 20 billion container units annually at 84 plants in North America, Europe, and South America and had sales of $2.56 billion in 2008.

Graham Packaging is a leading U.S. supplier of plastic containers for hot-fill juice and juice drinks, sports drinks, drinkable yogurt and smoothies, nutritional supplements, wide-mouth food, dressings, condiments, and beers; the leading global supplier of plastic containers for yogurt drinks; a leading supplier of plastic containers for liquid fabric care products, dish care products, and hard-surface cleaners; and the leading supplier in the U.S., Canada, and Brazil of one-quart/liter plastic motor oil containers.

The Blackstone Group of New York is the majority owner of Graham Packaging.

About Henkel

Henkel markets a wide range of well-known consumer and industrial brands in North America, including Dial® soaps, Purex® laundry detergents, Right Guard® antiperspirants, got2b® hair gels, and Loctite® adhesives..

Henkel has been committed to making people's lives easier, better and more beautiful for more than 130 years. A Fortune Global 500 and Germany's most admired company, according to a recent Fortune survey, Henkel offers strong brands and technologies in three areas of competence: home care, personal care and adhesive technologies. Each day, more than 52,000 employees in 125 countries are dedicated to fulfilling Henkel's claim "A Brand like a Friend." In fiscal 2008, Henkel generated sales of $20.8 billion and adjusted operating profit of $2.1 billion.

SOURCE Graham Packaging Company, L.P.

Back to top