Altivity adds sheeter to plant

Altivity Packaging LLC will spend $542,000 to install new equipment in its Fort Wayne carton plant, the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance announced Friday.

The equipment, or sheeter, will take rolls of paper and convert the paper into individual sheets.

The high-speed sheeter will be part of the process used to create folding cartons used to package many consumer products.

Jim Stanley, general manager of the Fort Wayne plant, said the sheeter would be installed in late October, and though the company will not immediately add jobs, the equipment will add capacity to the plant and that could eventually lead to new jobs. Currently, 131 work at the Altivity Packaging plant at 102 W. Superior St. in downtown Fort Wayne.

Altivity Packaging used to be a division of the Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., but in June the San Francisco-based Texas Pacific Group acquired the packaging company in a $1.04 billion deal.

“This machine purchase was being planned prior to the ownership change, and we’re pleased the sheeter will be placed here in Fort Wayne,” Stanley said.