Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Thursday announced the state is providing $800,000 in loans to help Inline Plastics Corporation expand and improve its operations at its Canal Street headquarters.
“Inline Plastics has been contributing to Connecticut’s economy for many years,” Malloy said in a prepared statement. “This expansion will allow Inline Plastics to add 18 jobs and improve operations for the existing 196 employees. The state’s financial support will ensure the company will stay in Connecticut and continue to invest and grow here.”
The Department of Economic and Community Development will assist the project with a 10-year, $500,000 loan to purchase and install new machinery and equipment as well as make necessary leasehold improvements to the facility.
Inline Plastics Corp. is a 42-year-old manufacturer in the thermoformed plastic food packaging industry. Its products are used in the packaging and retailing of food, primarily baked goods, deli items, fresh-cut produce, nuts and candy. The company operates nationally in the United States with two east coast manufacturing and distribution operations and one western operation.
With the improvements, Inline Plastics will be able to increase its sales and create more employment opportunities.
They’ll be rolling out a new production line that will be capable of producing 10 million clear plastic food containers per month. Without the loan, the company would have launched the new production line at its facility in Georgia.
“We need to hire 18 additional personnel to keep this machine running 24/7,” said Herb Knutson, the company’s marketing director. “The financial assistance from the state of Connecticut allowed us locate the new machine, and the new jobs, at our Shelton headquarters.”
The Connecticut Development Authority’s Board of Directors voted Wednesday to assist the project with a $300,000 loan.
“The assistance we received from DECD made the difference between establishing our new thermoforming line in Connecticut versus our Georgia plant,” said Inline Plastics Corp. president Tom Orkisz. “It was a pleasure to work with DECD. Our contact there was determined to land these new jobs in Connecticut, which will enable us to further grow our eastern U.S. business.”
The company maintains its corporate headquarters and primary manufacturing plant in Shelton. Other Connecticut facilities include a warehousing and distribution center in Shelton and a research and development/engineering department in Milford.
Inline Plastics was started in the basement of the Bridgeport home of Rudolf Orkisz Sr in 1968.
It then moved into a small commercial building in Bridgeport. In 1974 the company relocated to larger facilities in Milford.
During that time Inline was primarily manufacturing packaging for medical and consumer goods.
In the mid-1980s the company began to manufacture food packaging. The business grew quickly and, in 1989, Inline Plastics moved the production of its food packaging services to its Canal Street building.
Its Milford facility continued to manufacture medical and consumer goods packaging, as well as operate as Inline’s research and development facility.
In 1995, its corporate headquarters moved from Milford to Shelton.
In 2003, a west coast plant opened in Salt Lake City, Utah, in late 2009, a plant was added in McDonough, Georgia.
