Put a Lid on It: Tecnocap in Glen Dale Makes Closures for Many Well-Known Brands
FROM: Wheeling News-Register (February 7, 2023) – Many of the items Ohio Valley residents eat and use every day were finished off with closures made at the Tecnocap LLC facility in Glen Dale.
Tecnocap, an Italian company, has operated in Glen Dale for more than 15 years. It took over the former Penn-Wheeling Closure site in the city when it purchased the company.
Tecnocap makes closures, or what the average person would call lids, for a variety of well-known brands including Classico, Raos, Village Candle, Anchor Hocking, Smuckers, Barilla, Pfizer, Proctor & Gamble and more. It also makes sauce jar closures for local company Figaretti’s.
Tecnocap’s facility in Warren, Ohio, is used to prepare tinplate that is then shipped to Glen Dale where it is turned into the closures. The Warren facility gets its tin plate from the Ohio Coatings facility in Martins Ferry.
One of the company’s newest closures being manufactured in Glen Dale are twist-off caps without sharp edges. The caps will have smooth edges that will allow a person opening a bottle of beer or other beverage to twist it off with their bare hand instead of having to use a towel or other barrier, said Paulo Ghigo, president of Tecnocap LLC. It is named the SuperC.
“It’s easier to open and retains its vacuum, extending the shelf life of goods,” he said.
The plant takes quality seriously and uses a camera system that checks each closure. Those that do not make the cut are automatically sorted out.
Ghigo said the Glen Dale plant employs about 200 people. Between 2 million and 3 million closures are made there daily.
Tecnocap is headquartered in Salerno, Italy, and was established there in 1993. In addition to its plants in the U.S. it also has facilities in India, Brazil, Ukraine and Czech Republic. It employs about 1,000 people altogether.
The company is also in the business of making aluminum bottles and aerosol cans at its Italy facilities.
Ghigo noted the last 15 years of operation in Glen Dale “have been a continuous work in progress.”
“Penn Wheeling Closures was the result of consolidations and acquisitions for many years and it was necessary to renew the production capabilities, to modernize the manufacturing lines as well as innovate adding new products,” he said.
“All of that doesn’t happen overnight. It was a matter to set strategies and goals and accomplish those through significant investments of capital and human resources.
“Also, it was necessary to rearrange the workforce according to the new needs. Often it was necessary to smooth angles and patiently explain what we were trying to achieve among misinterpretations and diffidence.
“Looking back, we see that we may have been lucky sometimes and everything unfolded nicely. Thanks to that in the last 15 years many jobs have been created in the valley.
“We hope that the flywheel that took effort to get it to spin, continues to do so for many more years.”
Ghigo noted the company has a strong belief in American manufacturing, and that it considers the Glen Dale plant its American headquarters.
“The company is evenly committed to pursue environmental, social and sustainable governance,” he added. “One of the largest solar panels … in the state of West Virginia is installed over the roof of the Glen Dale facility, just to evidence one of the many initiatives to build a better world for future generations.
“The company runs another plant in Warren OH, has established joint ventures in other parts of the United States on a range of business synergetic with the core of metal packaging.”
He noted the Glen Dale plant’s offices were renovated in 2022.
“Many projects to expand the capabilities are ongoing to the point to run out of space. Business permitting those will add more jobs.
Ghigo noted there are differences between life and work in Italy and Glen Dale, but the working environment itself is not much different.
“If I should highlight the main differences that I noticed, people locally are less attached to the company than I experienced overseas. The turnover is significantly higher,” he said. “In highly specialized businesses, experience and knowledge retentions are key for conducting a healthy business that lasts.
“I believe that local authorities and educational institutions at every level have been doing a good job in listening to the needs of employers.
“There’s a risk to jeopardize the effort if the workforce doesn’t build an equally important experience in the field for (the) long term.”
Ghigo said the future is always uncertain, as the COVID-19 pandemic has taught the world during the past couple years. However, the company has a “clear commitment to stay” and strong belief in American manufacturing.
