Chesapeake Corporation began construction on a pharmaceutical packaging plant near Shanghai in October that will supply paperboard cartons, labels and leaflets to domestic and multinational pharmaceutical customers.
    The new 36,000-square-foot plant will complement and be built adjacent to Chesapeake's existing plastic packaging plant in Kunshan and is expected to be operational by mid-2006.  The company's existing plant manufactures bottles for the pharmaceutical industry and recently became the first foreign-owned packaging facility to receive the 100,000 grade certification for its clean room operation from the State Food & Drug Administration in China.
    "Our new Kunshan paperboard packaging plant will enable us to provide the same quality packaging and anti-counterfeiting technology in Asia that we have been supplying for years to the world's premiere pharmaceutical companies in Europe," said Thomas H. Johnson, Chesapeake chairman and chief executive officer.  "By combining paperboard carton, label and leaflet production capacity with our existing plastic packaging capability, we can now offer one-stop service for primary and secondary pharmaceutical packaging.  The pharmaceutical and healthcare industry is the largest market that we serve, and this is another significant step in growing our business globally."
    Located approximately 28 miles from Shanghai, Chesapeake's new plant will feature the latest technology and manufacturing equipment.  Chesapeake
Corporation's Hong Kong-based subsidiary, Chesapeake Asia-Pacific Ltd., will
operate the plant under the name Chesapeake Pharmaceutical & Healthcare
Packaging (Kunshan) Co. Ltd.  When the plant becomes fully operational it is
expected to eventually employ approximately 150 people.
    Once the plant begins operations, Chesapeake officials will seek several
quality assurance certifications for the facility, primarily those pertinent
to the pharmaceutical and healthcare market, including cGMP, PS 9000, and
State Food & Drug Administration (China) certification.
    Chesapeake Corporation is a leading international supplier of value-added
specialty paperboard and plastic packaging with headquarters in Richmond, Va.  The company is one of Europe's premier suppliers of folding cartons, leaflets and labels, as well as plastic packaging for niche markets.  Chesapeake has more than 50 locations in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia and employs approximately 6,400 people worldwide.

SOURCE Chesapeake Corporation