Apex North America expands Pennsylvania plant

Apex North America, a subsidiary of Holland-based Apex Group of Companies, a manufacturer of anilox rolls for narrow, wide web, corrugated and coating applications, has added 8,000 square feet to its Donora, Pennsylvania, manufacturing plant.

Apex North America’s vice president of sales Ken Ralton said: ‘Based on the growing demand for our new GTT series of ink metering rolls, we simply need more room to operate more lasers to engrave these anilox rolls and sleeves.’

Scheduled to open for production mid November 2011, the Donora plant will be one of the largest anilox production sites in North America with space for 12 lasers which can engrave both GTT and conventional hexcell anilox surfaces. The new addition will meet ‘clean room’ fabrication standards; Apex’s current building will be converted to include machining, repair and warehousing functions. Two constant-beam engraving lasers are to be delivered in November. Current laser operators and new laser operations staff will be trained and certified at Apex’s Hapert, Netherlands headquarters.

‘Despite the global economic problems some industrial sectors are feeling, packaging and printing continue to grow and look for new technology efficiencies,’ observed Ralton. ‘Apex and its new GTT products deliver cost savings and quality, enabling growth across this sector.’

To provide power for lighting and HVAC, Apex has tapped into its own natural gas well beneath its Donora property. ‘While there’s not enough natural gas for Apex to change businesses and become an energy provider, we can still minimize our carbon footprint by employing our own clean-burning fuel for these basic utilities,’ said Ralton.

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