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| New Alcan plant serves 'meat corridor' |
| By TOM DROEGE World Staff Writer |
| 10/19/2004 |
A million plastic bags a week are produced by the $16 million Alcan Packaging operation that
opened this year at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa.
"This is just the beginning," said plant manager Luis Bogran, walking through a warehouse filled
with rolls of the clear plastic.
Alcan officials plan to spend an additional $10 million on equipment to expand the number of
production lines from two to 12, drastically increasing the amount of plastic bags made at the
facility.
The bags, which begin as poly resin pellets, are sold to beef packers across the country's "meat
corridor" that stretches from Texas to Montana.
"It's not a very glamorous business," Bogran said. "It's a steady business. The last thing people
will stop doing is eating."
The average shopper probably doesn't notice the plastic that seals a cut of beef at the grocery
store, but the plastic bags made at the port plant are the first of their kind, he said.
They are designed to be stronger, preventing sharp bones from puncturing the plastic. And they
are clearer, so consumers can see the meat better.
"This has taken the market by surprise," Bogran said.
Alcan officials keep secret the process for making the product. They would not allow photographs
to be taken in many areas of the plant.
Alcan Packaging is a worldwide producer of packaging for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food,
tobacco, foil rolling and container market. The Chicago-based company reported $6 billion in
annual revenue, with 180 facilities and 34,000 employees.
Alcan recently acquired Pechiney Plastic Packaging Inc. and in the process bought the port
facility, which Pechiney began building in 2003.
It includes a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and a 90,000-square-foot warehouse on
about 10 acres. The plant employs about 30 people now and intends to employ 100 people within
three years, Alcan officials said.
Even though the company won't use the port's waterway system to move cargo, the industrial
park's location was key in deciding to open the plant. It puts Alcan within a two-day trip -- by truck
or rail -- of many of its Midwest customers.
"We want to be as close to our customers as we can," Bogran said, noting that about 80 percent
of cattle are slaughtered in the country's meat corridor.
The port's location also gave Alcan access to the area's large labor pool, Bogran said.
Employees are trained to handle every task at the plant, which allows for flexibility and efficiency,
he said. The plant operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Alcan is one of three companies in the last 1 1/2 years to announce plans to open new operations
at the port.
Kansas City, Mo.-based DeBruce Grain Inc. will open a $6 million grain and fertilizer facility along
the canal, increasing barge traffic by an estimated 20 percent in the next four years.
Cleveland, Ohio-based Hawk Corp. said its subsidiary, Wellman Products Group, is building a $7
million, 240,000-square-foot facility at the port to produce friction components for the
transportation industry. It will create about 300 manufacturing jobs. |
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| RELATED PHOTO & GRAPHICS |
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Plant manager Luis Bogran stands inside Alcan Packaging’s 40,000-square-footmanufacturing plant at the
Tulsa Port of Catoosa. Alcan employs about 30 people at the plant and a 90,000-square-foot warehouse.
DAVID CRENSHAW / Tulsa World |
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