Graham Packaging opens St. Louis plant on client’s site

York-based Graham Packaging Co. L.P. has started manufacturing plastic containers in St. Louis at the site of its client there: Henkel Consumer Goods Inc.

Graham's plant is making plastic bottles for Purex laundry detergent for Henkel, a subsidiary of Henkel AG and Co. KGaA of Germany and maker of Dial, Renuzit, Right Guard and other products.

Graham also has a bottle-making plant next to a Pennsylvania-based Henkel plant in West Hazleton, Luzerne County.

The company makes custom blow-molded plastic containers for food and beverages, household and personal care items, and automotive lubricants.

"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," said Peter T. Lennox, Graham Packaging senior vice president.

He said that this type of plant also allowed the company to reduce its carbon footprint.

About a third of Graham's 84 manufacturing facilities are located on-site with customers, the company said.

Graham, which is majority owned by the Blackstone Group of New York, makes more than 20 billion container units a year at plants in North America, Europe, and South America; 2008 sales were $2.56 billion.    - Roslyn Rudolph