Intertape Polymer Group continues to expand its cast stretch film production capacity.

The company said it has ordered a new cast film extrusion line about two months after it bought a controlling stake in Powerband Industries Pvt. Ltd. Of Daman, India, a leader in cast linear low density cast stretch film and biaxially oriented polypropylene tape.

Windmoeller & Hoelscher announced Nov. 6 that Intertape ordered a Filmex cast line, which was introduced at the recent K show in Düsseldorf, Germany.

“Expanding the company's cast segment complements the strategy to provide customers with a complete bundle of packaging products including tape, stretch film, polyolefin shrink film and protective packaging,” noted Intertape vice president of stretch film and strategic planning Glenn Cooper in a news release.

Cooper declined to provide details of the line or where it is destined.

The news followed on the heels of Intertape's notice that it has chosen a company in India to help it expand in global markets. On Sept. 2 Intertape said it bought 74 percent of Powerband in a deal it expects to close before the end of 2016.

“We believe that it is critical to IPG's growth that we expand from being a primarily North America producer to becoming a greater participant in the global market,” Intertape President and CEO Greg Yull stated in the Sept. 2 news release.

“This transaction materially furthers IPG's strategy to expand globally due, in part, to Powerbrand's presence in virtually every significant global market, as well as providing IPG with the benefit of access to a low cost and high growth jurisdiction,” Yull added.

Powerband said two months ago that it has logged compounded annual growth of 30 percent over the past 10 years. It exports to more than 19 countries and counts 2,000 customers in India. Its modern manufacturing factory in Daman, 100 miles north of Mumbai, has earned ISO 9001 and 14001 certifications. It was founded in 1998 by Rajan Desai, current managing director, who will continue to manage the business and remain a significant shareholder. Daman will continue to be headquarters for the business.

Powerband's sales in its most recently completed fiscal year were about $32 million. Intertape agreed to pay about $42 million for Powerband, financed from its revolving credit facility.

Poweband is expanding its number of coating lines from four to six over the next two years. It is backward integrated in its tape adhesives requirements for water-based butyl-acrylic polymer. Through a series of expansions its BOPP tape production capacity has grown to 5.8 billion square feet per year, the company notes on its website. Its cast stretch film capacity is 11 million pounds per year. Its global customers include such major tape consumers as courier services supplier DHL, confectionery maker Cadbury, General Motors India, Pepsi, P&G India, Siemens, Goodyear, Nestle and Unilever.

W&H's Filmex line introduced at K comes complete with its film performance monitoring system that continuously records data during production to help ensure consistency and reliability, according to the Lengerich, Germany-based company. Each film roll produced is given a code containing its quality data that can be married to quality laboratory data or downstream equipment to facilitate converting to high quality film

“With film performance monitoring, the entire production process, all the way to usage, becomes transparent,” according to W&H.

Intertape's head offices are in Montreal and in Sarasota, Fla. It employs about 2,200 and runs 12 manufacturing operations in North America, one in Europe and one in India. Its product line includes paper- and film-based pressure-sensitive and water-activated tapes, polyolefin films, woven coated fabrics and related packaging systems for industrial and retail markets.

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