Amcor Plastube--North America.

Amcor Plastube--North America is the name of the plastic tube business of Amcor Specialty Packaging Americas Inc., a leading packaging company with 15 manufacturing operations across North and South America. Amcor Specialty Packaging Americas Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amcor Limited of Melbourne, Australia, a world-class packaging producer that is publicly traded on the Australian stock exchange. Amcor Limited has annual sales of over (Australian) $11 billion and is one of the top global packaging companies. It operates over 220 plants around the world with operations in 36 countries and employs more than 30,000 employees. Amcor Limited is focused on plastic, fiber and metal packaging and packaging related services. Facilities are located in Australia, Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Amcor Plastube's plant, located in the town of Granby, Quebec, is about 30 miles from the Vermont border. The plant is strategically located close to major interstate highways to provide easy access to customer on the Eastern Seaboard as well as the Mid-West. The business operates in a 70,000 square foot climate controlled facility, and has been in operation for over 38 years. Amcor Plastube started as a supplier to the Canadian tube market and then expanded in the past decade to supply customers in the United States. The business has focused on shorter run production and multiple process work, building a reputation over the years as one of the best decorators in North America. These niches have been the roots of the business and all new tube making and decorating equipment have been specified to continue to service these very demanding market segments. The decorating skills and commitment of the dedicated and long service employees of the business shows in the final decorated tubes and the high service levels delivered to our customer base.

In November 2001, Amcor entered into a manufacturing and technology licensing agreement with Hoffmann Neopac AG of Switzerland. This agreement provides Amcor Plastube exclusive rights to the proprietary Polyfoil[R] high barrier tube making technology. Allowing us to open a second tube manufacturing facility in the USA. The 70,000 square foot plant is located in Allentown Pennsylvania and is equipped to produce the Polyfoil[R], mono-layer and co-extruded tube.

The new plant has state of the art tube making and decorating equipment. It is configured to cost effectively produce both short and medium size production runs.

Amcor Plastube offers its customers a full size range of plastic, co-extruded and Polyfoil[R] tubes with a very wide choice in head styles and threads. Decorating options include up to eight color dry offset printing, process printing, up to five color tightly registered silk screening, hot stamping and labeling. The machines used for tube making have been designed to minimize the cost and time required to retool for unique head styles, thus offering the customer more flexibility in the package design for new products.

A close working relationship with our local printing plate maker has helped us to offer state of the art plate making with facilities to receive artwork electronically to reduce artwork turn-around times. All new artwork is reviewed by a committee, which includes the plate maker. Some artwork may require adjustment and the committee works closely with the customer in the early stages to ensure that the final product is what the customer wants. Years of decorating experience, shared with the customer at the early stages of a project can improve the quality of the finished tube and the final cost.

Amcor Plastube is constantly searching for new decorating ideas and its sales and marketing staff regularly attend European trade shows, looking for developments in tube making, decorating and cap design. With shelf appearance so critical to our customers' success, it is very important that the sales force of the tube supplier be aware of new developments elsewhere in the world. We can better service our customers if we more fully understand their challenges in packaging design.

The plastic tube market has realized dramatic growth over the past few years and indications are that the demand for plastic tubes will continue to grow. This growth has been driven by the attractiveness of the tube as a package and the functionality of the tube as a vehicle for product delivery. It is Amcor Plastube's intention to add capacity to grow with the market. With the proliferation of SKU's, there has been a growing demand for shorten production runs for certain market niches. Amcor Plastube will continue to focus its growth in these niches, while offering its customers innovative new decorating options.

Amcor Plastube is well placed to work with customers on new ideas and short run production for market entry and testing purposes. Personal Care packaging is probably the fastest growing and most exciting packaging market to be in and Amcor Plastubes is in it for the long haul.