Jokey Plastik launches first Russian packaging plant in Ulyanovsk

Jokey Plastik's ribbon cutting ceremony at the Ulyanovsk plant

Packaging specialist Jokey Plastik has formally launched its first Russian production with the inauguration in February of a new €11m plant at Ulyanovsk in south western Russia.

Wipperfürth, Germany-based Jokey Plastik began the project at the Zavolzhye industrial zone in August 2013. The plant started up with test production in January 2015 and went into regular production in March last year to fill existing orders.

An initial 50-strong plant workforce is set to grow to 120 employees once the facility is running at its full capacity of more than 4,000 tpa, according to the company. Ulyanovsk plant will serve Russia’s Volga and Ural regions along with Siberia and several customers in Kazakhstan.

“There are many reasons why we chose a location in Ulyanovsk region. The first one was a human factor: we really liked the attitude of the (Ulyanovsk region) governor Sergey Morozov to our project.

“And secondly, central Russia is a very important region for us, so we began construction in this region,” commented Jokey’s managing director Herbert Kemmerich at the launch.

Since 2004, Jokey Plastik has operated a plastics packaging plant serving the former CIS states in the Belarus city of Mogilev east of the capital Minsk. Today, it is one of the company’s largest and most successful of the group’s plants.

A decade after this converted concrete factory first began moulding rigid packaging, the 18,000 square metre unit with 68 injection moulding machines, Jokey was a leader in Russia’s packaging market. By 2013 it achieved a €50m turnover in Russia and the CIS.

Jokey Plastik built on the Belarus plant’s success with its latest Russian project and now the new Ulyanovsk operation is being managed from the Mogilev subsidiary.

Today, Jokey Plastik group has 14 plants in 11 countries including Poland, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Canada with nearly 2,000 employees. Overall, the firm runs more than 500 injection moulding machines.

Apart from packaging it moulds precision parts for the automotive, electrical and consumer goods sectors and manufactures bathroom furniture and mirror cabinets.