Toly Products, which makes luxury packaging for some of the world`s leading cosmetics, fragrances and skin care industries, has invested Lm500,000 in a brand new lacquering facility adjacent to its manufacturing plant at Bulebel industrial estate.
The extension will start operating within the next two months, Toly chairman and chief executive Andy Gatesy said when Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami visited the plant yesterday.
The visit was one in a series organised for the prime minister by the Federation of Industry.
FOI president Joe Zammit Tabona said the aim of the visit was to put the spotlight on industry, which generated 26 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product and which absorbed 22 per cent of the gainfully occupied.
The visit also coincided with the 33rd anniversary of the setting up of the Toly business in Malta on May 9, 1969.
Mr Gatesy said the company was backed by an extensive sales organisation with offices in London, New York, Paris and Belgium that are focused on leading international beauty companies. The offices were supported by a network of agents in the smaller markets such as Spain, Greece, Scandinavia and Italy, he said.
Toly`s largest customer worldwide is Chanel for whom Toly last year produced over five million compacts for its colour cosmetics line, in addition to specific skincare and fragrance packaging.
Other famous brands include Boots, Avon, Yves Rocher, Elizabeth Arden, Bourjois, Orlane, Lancaster and Perspectives.
Mr Gatesy said that being a privately owned company competing against giant public corporations, Toly had formed a global alliance with partners like Ceka Brush of Germany, one of the world`s leading manufacturers of mascara packaging, and Sinwa of Japan, a core supplier to Shiseido and Metapack, a specialised company offering promotional packaging to the beauty industry.
With this alliance, Toly`s sales for 2002 are budgeted at Lm18 million, with more than Lm9 million being produced through Toly in Malta.
Since 1995, Toly has invested over Lm6 million in its Malta facility mainly in automation equipment.
Mr Gatesy said that despite high automation, Toly employed 540 workers Over 250,000 finished components are produced each day.
Mr Gatesy had words of praise for the Maltese workers: "Machinery and equipment can be purchased and installed anywhere in the world, but it is the intelligence, flexibility and commitment of the Maltese workforce that can make the difference."