Mondi Consumer Flexibles celebrated the official opening of its newly extended plant in Békéscsaba, Hungary. Due to the expansion Mondi will be the first producer for re-closable bags in Eastern Europe, strengthening its position there and creating 12 new jobs in Békéscsaba.

Investments in the plant have led to a doubling in size – a nearly 2,500sqm production hall including a new curing room and a 1,500sqm new warehouse for cylinders. The new additions to the manufacturing facility significantly increase Mondi Békéscsaba’s production capacity and improve the overall flow of production processes.

Jakob Mosser, CEO of Mondi Consumer Flexibles, said: “This expansion will allow us to optimally support customers in Eastern Europe and to supply them with the high quality standards we are well-known for. In difficult times as these the creation of new jobs is an important contribution to the local economy, which we are happy to have been able to make.” Together with the production site in Solec, Poland, Mondi Consumer Flexibles continues to optimally meet the rising demands of Eastern European’s fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies.

Convenient re-closable bags have led to a significant change in packaging for dry pet food and are also gaining importance for the food and non-food industries. The Eastern European markets are following this trend and demand is expected to rise over the next few years. For this reason two new production lines for re-closable bags have been installed at the Békéscsaba plant and have been up and running since November 2008.

The installation of the new production lines was supported by an experienced technical team from the plant in Lindlar, Germany, who have already successfully positioned their plant as a competence centre for re-closable bag solutions. Both plants – Békéscsaba and Lindlar – form a highly efficient and sophisticated production cooperation to offer tailor-made packaging solutions to protect and promote products at their best.

Zsolt Majer, managing director of Mondi Packaging Békéscsaba Kft., said: “The project started in May 2008 and building was completed at the end of the same year within the set deadline. I am tremendously excited about the excellent expertise available within our team and confident that we too will deliver a real benefit to our customers, enhancing people performance and productivity.” Following the certifications according to ISO 14001:2004, ISO 9001:2000 and HACCP, the plant in Békéscsaba has also successfully implemented BRC/IoP – a high European standard for food packaging hygiene – at the newly extended production site.

The mayor of the town of Békéscsaba, Gyula Vantara and a number of national and international customers, suppliers, partners and Mondi employees came to celebrate this occasion in Békéscsaba.