Upgraded boxing services in Australia's north

Amcor has announced it will invest $10 million to upgrade the corrugated box plant in Townsville, increasing their delivery capability to customers in north and central Queensland and the Northern Territory.

The investment involves installation of an upgraded corrugator with Xitex capability, an additional rotary die cutter and improved warehouse facilities on the existing site.

The Xitec corrugator will provide superior strength and box performance characteristics to conventional corrugated boxes, making them particularly suited to long-haul packaging for fruit and produce.

The upgrade will increase the plant's production capacity by 50%.

Amcor operates nine corrugated box plants throughout Australia, including two in Queensland at Rocklea and Townsville. Corrugated boxes have been manufactured from the Townsville site since the 1960s.

"The Townsville upgrade follows the recently completed expansion of our corrugated box facility at Rocklea," said Amcor's general manager, Alex Hutton.

"The combined investment of over $50 million in these two plants allows us to significantly improve product quality, service and responsiveness to our Queensland customers."

Earthworks will commence next month and the project is scheduled to be completed by April 2008.