ALPLA Advancingly Moves Forward to Expand Its Business in Thailand by Opening a New Factory in Chachoengsao with an Aim at the Sustainability
ALPLA Group, a world-class manufacturer and recycler of plastic packaging, has announced that, it will continue to expand its business in Thailand by opening a new factory in Chachoengsao Province to meet the growing demands in the Asia-Pacific region as well as to upgrade its production technology and promote the circular economy through a large-scale plastic recycling project.
Philipp Lehner, CEO of ALPLA revealed that plastic packaging was a safer, more cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution than other materials such as glass or metal because of its lightweight, durability and usage of less energy in the productions. In addition, PET and PE, the main materials, were highly recyclable and the important part of the circular economy.
“Plastic packaging facilitates easier transportations, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and maintains the product quality no matter what they are beverages, detergents or even motor oils. Moreover, the low production costs also help facilitate access to essential goods in the developing regions such as the Asia Pacific,” said Mr. Lehner.
ALPLA has been in the plastic packaging business for over 70 years, with over 200 factories being accounted for in 46 countries, and has still been committed to continuously expand its production capacity to meet the customers’ demands by investing in Thailand and paving the way for a long-term growth. ALPLA started its business in Thailand in 2000 by establishing a factory with a global consumer goods company and expanded its operations in Prachin Buri Province in 2004. Most recently, the company decided to open a new factory in Chachoengsao Province to meet the growing demands and enhance its manufacturing innovation level.
Daniel Qiu, ALPLA General Manager for Thailand , added, “The new factory covers an area of over 24,000 square meters to support the high-tech production, and will become ALPLA’s headquarters in Thailand, with 192 employees to comprehensively cover works of the Production, Technical and Administrative Departments. Thailand is an important hub for us in the Asia Pacific regions. The new factory in Chachoengsao is ideally located, with easy access to Bangkok, thus, allowing us to serve our customers faster as well as to be able to attract quality talent personnel to join our team.”
ALPLA not only is just expanding its production capacity but also focusing on the innovation through STUDIO a, a one-stop product design center, which will help accelerate the packaging development process so that customers can see the prototypes quickly.
Roland Wallner, Managing Director for APAC at ALPLA, further gave his account, “STUDIO a will be a center for product development that focuses on recycling and reducing material use without sacrificing quality. We are introducing the Injection Molding (IM) and Injection Single-step Blow Molding (ISBM) technologies to Thailand together with making continuous investments in the ENVICCO recycling factory, which we had established jointly with PTT Global Chemical in 2022. ENVICCO is the largest plastic recycling factory in Thailand, with a capacity to produce 30,000 tons of rPET (recycled from beverage bottles) and 15,000 tons of rHDPE (recycled from rigid plastic bottles) plastic pellets per year, which are used in ALPLA’s factory in Prachin buri and Chachoengsao. Plastic bottles made from 100% PET have been on the Thai market since 2023, and we will continue to expand our recycling program to support the circular economy,”
On the ALPLA’s future aim in Thailand, Prachin Buri factory will focus on the specialized production while the Chachoengsao factory will become a new hub. The Prachin Buri factory will be repositioned to focus on the Extrusion Blow Moulding (EBM) packaging which is suitable for cosmetics, household products, food, oils and lubricants.
