The US-headquartered label materials giant is ploughing €45m into its Champ-sur-Drac plant in France. The group said it was one year into a planned three-year project at the site that will involve a raft of enhancements and expansion.
The facility, located to the south of Grenoble, will benefit from 8,700sqm of new logistics buildings and a new automated warehouse.
An additional high-speed hotmelt adhesive coater is also set to come on-stream in 2024.
A separate €15m spend at Avery Dennison’s Luxembourg plant includes a new speciality emulsion coater that should be up and running in Q1 next year.
Operational flow at the facility is also being redesigned.
An Avery Dennison spokesperson told Printweek that the investments were not related to recent disruption to label material supplies caused by the strike at UPM.
“While the UPM strike is having a short-term impact on the availability of some paper-based raw materials used in our manufacturing process, the investments we are making are not in response to the strike, nor do they represent an intent to backward integrate into paper-based inputs,” the spokesperson explained.
“These investments were planned in advance of the paper strike and are being made to increase our capacity to support the continued growth of our business and industry over the long-term and drive further productivity in our processes.”
Avery Dennison said the investments would bring the business “a step closer to fully embracing Industry 4.0 practices”, with benefits including increased efficiency and lower operating costs, while freeing up “employees to perform safer, higher-value tasks”.
Tim Presto, vice president of supply chain and operations in EMENA, commented: “Our investments at Champs-sur-Drac and Luxembourg will allow us to meet customer demand now and into the future by freeing capacity throughout our European manufacturing network.”
Avery Dennison posted 2021 sales up 18.6% on a constant currency basis, at $8.4bn (£6.7bn). It employs around 36,000 people worldwide.
The group makes labelling and functional materials used in a wide range of industries including food, apparel, medical, advertising and promotions, and architecture and building.
