Brodrene Hartmann A/S (hartmann-packaging.com), a Denmark-based producer of sustainable molded-fiber egg cartons, announced its expansion into the U.S. with a manufacturing facility planned for Rolla, Missouri. The move into the U.S. is based upon the company’s growing sales and demand for its high-quality cartons in North America. The company’s U.S. business will operate under Hartmann US. 

Hartmann is making an initial investment of $30 million into an existing 334,000-square-foot facility in Rolla, which will be retrofitted to produce the company’s egg cartons. Hartmann’s molded-fiber cartons, made from renewable raw material paper, are carbon neutral, biodegradable and can be recycled. The Rolla facility is slated to begin operations in early 2017.

“Our new facility in Missouri will allow us to be closer to our growing customer base in the central and western U.S.,” says Gerry Lavis, president of Hartmann North America and Hartmann US. “It will provide us with additional production capacity and increase our distribution efficiencies, which
benefits our customers and positions us for continued growth.”

In addition to the Missouri Governor’s office, the Missouri Partnership and the City of Rolla, Hartmann worked closely with its business and real estate advisors at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank to conduct the site selection and transaction management.

The company’s first U.S. facility will create 50 local jobs with the potential to double both in investment and number of jobs over the next several years.

Hartmann currently serves its North American customers — egg producers, packers and supermarket chains — from its production facility in Brantford, Ontario in Canada. Hartmann’s U.S. sales representatives in Georgia, Massachusetts, Washington and Canadian counterparts in Ontario and Quebec work with customers to support the need for sustainable packaging in the retail trade.