The Andrews Labor Government is celebrating another win for local manufacturing, with Ampacet Australia establishing its new state-of-the-art facility and Centre for Excellence in the heart of Melbourne’s southeast.

Minister for Industry and Employment, Wade Noonan, today attended the official opening of Ampacet Australia’s facility in Dandenong South.

Ampacet Australia is part of Ampacet Corporation – a masterbatch provider to the plastics industry for use in products such as food packaging.

Established in 1937, the company currently has 24 manufacturing facilities globally and employs 2,000 people.

The new facility has a fully functional laboratory for product development and quality assurance – while it’s expected the Dandenong South site will produce masterbatch products and additives to plastics.

Ampacet Australia also plans to commence exporting flame-retardant products to China for use in the manufacture of construction products.

The Ampacet Corporation won a Procter and Gamble Supplier Excellence Award in 2015 for consistent high performance.

Victoria is the manufacturing state of the nation. In 2016, employment across the sector grew by around 40,000 jobs. The industry is worth around $26 billion to the Victorian economy each year, and employs more than 270,000 people.