Jindal Films Americas has announced plans to add polyester films to its US production footprint. The new facility will be built at Jindal’s new American headquarters in LaGrange, Georgia, and will have a capacity of 65,000 t/y, divided between two lines producing thin specialty and thick specialty films. Start-up is expected in early 2018 and the company puts investment costs at around $120 million.

The move follows an ongoing expansion project at LaGrange, to where the company is also relocating its US R&D center and its national headquarters from Troup County in Georgia. Jindal is spending $180 million on the project, which will double existing capacity and be completed by the first quarter of 2018. The company has already added metallization, orientation, coating and slitting capabilities in the second half of 2016.

Extra metallization and extrusion capabilities are also being added to sites in Europe. Jindal Films Europe is increasing metallization capacity at Brindisi, Italy, by 10,000 t/y with start-up due in the second half of 2017. The project follows the installation of another metallizer in the first half of 2016 that is now running at full capacity.

In Virton, Belgium, a 50,000 t/y orientation line is being built to replace existing capacity with completion scheduled by the end of the third quarter in 2018. “Virton is the most flexible plant to produce our wide range of specialty and new-generation products. In combination with the recently installed Global Technology Innovation Center, the Virton site will be the launch platform for our next-generation products,” said Serge Franҫois, Virton site director, Jindal Films Europe. Jindal’s Innovation Center officially opened on Mar. 30, 2017.