Expansions: Amcor opens coatings facility for healthcare packaging in Malaysia; Mitsubishi expands FR compound capacity in China and France

Packaging provider Amcor has completed construction of its advanced coating facility for healthcare packaging in Selangor, Malaysia. This facility is said to be the first in Asia to leverage air knife coating technology, strengthening the supply of high-quality, sterile packaging for healthcare customers across the region.

The new facility expands Amcor’s existing healthcare packaging plant in Selangor, creating an integrated campus that makes Amcor the first in Asia to produce both top and bottom substrates for medical device packaging. This development delivers critical benefits to customers, including enhanced supply chain resilience and reduced lead times.

Equipped with advanced technologies such as water-based coating systems, online inspection systems and air knife technology, the facility sets new standards for precision and efficiency, Amcor says. The air knife technology, in particular, uses high-speed air streams to ensure uniform coating application, enhancing product consistency and reducing material waste.

“Amcor’s investment in this new facility reflects our unwavering commitment to support our customers across the Asia Pacific region,” said Chris Kenneally, president of Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific. “By introducing advanced coating technology and boosting local production capacity, we are better positioned to meet the growing regional demand for sterile, reliable packaging and to offer our customers greater flexibility and security.”

This new facility is part of Amcor’s broader commitment to expanding its healthcare capabilities in the Asia Pacific region. Recent initiatives include the acquisition of healthcare packaging company MDK in China, the establishment of a grid lacquer paper unit in India and the construction of a co-extrusion blown film and printing plant in Singapore.

In other news, Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation has decided to expand its production capacity for flame-retardant (FR) compounds based on polyolefins and thermoplastic elastomers, used for cable sheathing and other purposes, at Mitsubishi Chemical Performance Polymers (China) Co (Location: Jiangsu, China) and MCPP France SAS (Location: Tiffauges, France).

The China expansion is to start in 2025 and in France in 2026. It did not state the capacity increases.

This decision, it adds, is driven by the significant increase in demand for flame-retardant compounds as cable sheathing materials across a wide range of industries, including mobility, telecommunications, construction, and gas.

It says the flame-retardant compounds provide a wide grade line-up that supports various flame retardance and heat resistance levels, high flexibility achieved through proprietary formulation technology, and formability in extrusion moulding. Thanks to these features, they are widely used in applications such as automotive cables, solar power generation system cables, and sputter tubes, with demand growing especially in China and Europe in recent years.

To meet such strong global demand, MCC has decided to expand its production capacity for flame-retardant compounds by installing new production lines at its plants in China and France.

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