The group, which recently sold its agi media division in europe, is planning a 480m expansion to its operations at its subsidiary rigesa to meet growing customer demand across latin america. Chief executive john luke said &ldquothe strategic decision to expand our rigesa business signifies our strong commitment to continued growth and market leadership in brazil.&rdquo meadwestvaco is planning to expand its existing santa catarina facility and install a new paperboard machine that will double the capacity of its tres barras mill.
Construction and installation of the new machine is expected to be complete by mid2012. Meadwestvaco said the machine will produce 300,000 tons per year of kraft liner board for its packaging converting operations throughout brazil. When the mill is fully operational, it is expected to employ about 800 people.
Meadwestvaco, which operates in 30 countries and has customers in more than 100 nations, has served the brazilian market through rigesa since 1953 and currently employs more than 2,500 people in brazil. Rigesa produces packaging for the food, cleaning, cosmetics, health, chemicals and electronic markets. It operates two paper mills, four corrugated packaging plants, one consumer packaging plant, and owns 54,000 hectares of forestry.
