MANUFACTURING: C&E Capsules to move manufacturing plant to Fairfield

MANUFACTURING: C&E Capsules to move manufacturing plant to Fairfield
Company plans to double market share, hires sales manager
by Jeff Quackenbush
Business Journal Staff Reporter
Jan 12, 2009

NAPA – C&E Capsules, which produces and distributes bottle-top covers and closures for the wine business, is now part of a top global producer of tamper-evident beverage seals and is set to relocate to a larger facility in Fairfield next month as part of a plan to double U.S. market share in the next few years.

Enoplastic SpA of Italy, which exports capsules to 60 countries, acquired full ownership of C&E Capsules in December, according to Stefan Bunk, manager of the pending Fairfield plant. Around that time, Enoplastic purchased a 21,169-square-foot portion of a manufacturing warehouse and office building at 2487 Courage Drive in Fairfield. Enoplastic has production agreements at facilities in Germany and New Zealand, but this will be the first plant outside Italy the 51-year-old company owns.

“Current orders done in Italy will transfer here,” Mr. Bunk said.

Mr. Bunk estimates that C&E Capsules commands 6 percent to 7 percent of the U.S. market for PVC, polylaminate and Champagne-style capsules for the wine business. The goal is to double that share in the next three to four years.

The company currently has eight machines for forming capsules and is set to have a ninth installed by April. To keep the machines running, C&E recently hired Paul Doyle as sales manager. Previously, the company prospected for sales in-house.

One new product is a polylaminate Elite capsule, which combines layers of plastic and aluminum foil to provide the cost-effectiveness of the former and a tearing feel similar to that of tin capsules on higher-end wines but at a fraction of the unit cost.

Another addition to the product line is DoubleSeal, an aluminum screwcap closure covered with a PVC capsule. A common approach for screwcaps tailored to the wine industry has been to simulate the look of a capsule with a long-skirted cap. One challenge for wineries in using caps has been the specter of wine spoilage or contamination from caps possibly not staying closed without showing cracks in the skirt perforation.

Enoplastic claims the PVC capsule in the patented DoubleSeal system can avert this potential problem. The company launched the product – a year and a half in production and development – in the U.S. in June of last year amid a surge in orders, according to Mr. Bunk.

C&E started in 2005 as a joint venture between Enoplastic; Australia’s Collotype Labels, which has a facility in south Napa; and Topenz, a New Zealand capsule producer partly owned by Enoplastic.

Multi-Color Corp. of Ohio acquired Collotype in February of last year for $210 million, but that deal didn’t include C&E Capsules, according to Mr. Bunk. C&E occupies 8,500 square feet of the Collotype plant at 21 Executive Way in Napa.

Enoplastic has 170 employees, including the 10 at C&E in Napa. Staffing in Fairfield is expected to be the same until the amount of business increases, according to Mr. Bunk.

For more information, call 707-603-2500 or visit www.cecapsules.com.