Gloucester Engineering Teams Up With Kabra in India

Gloucester Engineering Co. in Gloucester, Mass., has formed a joint venture with Kolsite Group in Mumbai, India, to build blown film lines at Kabra Extrusiontechnik Ltd., a Kolsite company. The 50/50 venture, called Kabra Gloucester Engineering Ltd., plans to build a plant in Daman, India, near an existing Kabra plant. It intends to produce Gloucester’s standard Contracool multi-layer and monolayer blown film lines in the 250- to 650-kg/hr output range for production of film with layflats from 1.8 to 2.5 meters. The lines will use Gloucester’s spiral die technology and updated winders designed by Kabra. Motors and gearboxes will come from international vendors with a global warranty. Gloucester will continue to build the same models in the U.S. depending on delivery-time requirements. The Indianbuilt equivalents will be less expensive, but savings will depend on the size and complexity of the machine, Gloucester says. Lines built by Kabra Gloucester will be sold globally by both parent companies under their respective brands. This is Kabra’s third foreign partnership. Kabra announced joint ventures in 2007 with American Maplan in McPherson, Kan., and Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik in Germany. Maplan and BEX took a 14% equity position in Kabra, while Kabra licensed extruder technology from BEX. American Maplan and BEX are former sister companies of Gloucester Engineering. (978) 281-1800 • www.gloucesterengineering.com +91 (22) 2673 4822 • www.kolsite.com