A deal with Walmart comes shortly after one with Amazon. CEO Omar Asali discusses the importance of these enterprise customers and navigating economic uncertainty ahead of the busy holiday season. Ranpak is expanding its automation solutions at Walmart’s distribution centers. Under the multiyear agreement, Walmart will install Ranpak’s AutoFill machines at sites in the Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and Sacramento, California, metro areas. Walmart already uses this equipment at an Indianapolis-area fulfillment center, where it automates void filling and box closing to increase productivity.  This is the second major deal Ranpak has landed this year with an e-commerce giant. In January, Amazon agreed to spend $400 million on an eight-year deal to acquire up to 18.7 million Ranpak shares, which will amount to an estimated 17% of the company’s shares when completed.

Greif, Inc. announced that it has completed its previously announced divestiture of the Flexible Packaging joint venture, or “FPS” for a total cash consideration of $123 million, subject to certain conditions and post-closing adjustments, to Gulf Refined Packaging. “Completion of the FPS divestiture and the exit of the joint venture relationship is an important step in advancing our Build to Last Strategy,” said Ole Rosgaard, Greif’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “I would like to thank our FPS colleagues for their hard work over the last 11 years and wish them the very best in the future.” Proceeds from the sale of FPS will be used toward debt repayment. The impact from this sale has been factored into Greif’s recently announced increased earnings guidance for Fiscal 2022.

ePac Holdings Europe has established two new locations for its digital-only production plants in both Lyon in France and Wrocław in Poland, in line with its previously announced expansion plans into continental Europe. The new manufacturing center in France will be strategically located near Lyon, in the town of Bourgoin Jallieu. Operations will be headed up by Jonathan Schmitt, who is the managing partner at ePac Lyon. The new ePac facility in Poland will be located in Wrocław, where Maciej Plamieniak will take the reins, and like ePac Lyon, orders will be fulfilled by the UK until full manufacturing is online.