With the launch of the new plant, officials sayToppan will bolster its capacity to supply transparent barrier films, including GL Film, to packaging manufacturers in North America and Europe and further expand its business by taking advantage of the new plant’s location.

 

Background

Toppan Printing began sales of transparent barrier films, including GL Film, in 1986. Today, the company enjoys a significant share of the global market for such films.

 

Due to factors such as environmental considerations, Toppan is anticipating further expansion of demand for barrier films in the global packaging market. In particular, demand for barrier films is expected to grow in the North American market, where large structural shifts are taking place in the food packaging industry, such as a need for longer shelf lives brought by changes in lifestyles, and a switch from glass bottles and metal cans to flexible packaging.

 

In light of these trends, Toppan will construct a manufacturing site in Georgia, USA from which to provide high-quality, transparent films to North America as well as new markets.

 

Toppan will target total sales of approximately 100 billion yen in fiscal 2018 for its transparent barrier film-related business.

GL Film

 

This is a collective term for original transparent barrier films developed by Toppan Printing. These films enjoy an excellent reputation not only in Japan, but also in overseas markets such as Europe, North America and Southeast Asia, thanks to a wealth of variations suited to different purposes and the world’s highest level barrier performance, achieved using original vapor deposition technology. As a top brand in the transparent barrier film market, GL Film is currently used for approximately 15,000 products in around 45 countries and regions (as of December 2013).