Crane Currency Building $100M Banknote Printing Facility in Malta
BOSTON — Crane Currency is planning a new $100 million banknote printing facility and customer experience center in the country of Malta.
The company expects to initially hire approximately 200 new employees. The 140,000 square-foot facility, expected to be completed in early 2018, is being constructed in the Hal Far industrial area. The company made the announcement during a visit to its Boston offices by Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat.
Crane & Co., based in Dalton, has been printing currency for more than 200 years and is the only producer of American paper currency at its Dalton plant.
"We are delighted to expand our banknote printing capacity with our new facility in Malta," said Stephen P. DeFalco, chief executive officer of Crane Currency, in a statement. "I would like to extend my gratitude to Prime Minister Muscat and Malta Enterprise for their support. We look forward to a long-term relationship with our future employees in Malta and to building the most modern banknote printing facility in the world."
Crane currently supports its international customers from its Tumba, Sweden, operations, which includes a modern printing works, banknote paper mill and design services team and from its security technologies operation in New Hampshire and Georgia.
The island nation of Malta, south of Sicily, has a well-known history of banknote production providing Crane access to a skilled workforce. In addition, Malta has a business-friendly environment and is located in close proximity to many of Crane's customers, according to company officials. Crane Currency Malta will be the first commercial banknote printing facility to be built in several decades.
The state-of-the art banknote production and customer experience center will offer the latest in printing equipment and technology to support the most demanding customer requirements. As banknotes move away from "ink on paper" to a combination of highly engineered substrates and applied security features like Crane's Motion micro-optics, the capabilities of the modern printing works must also evolve.
Crane Currency Malta will reflect this technological evolution in its layout and equipment.
"What is being announced today is a significant landmark achievement for our nation," said Muscat in a statement. "To give one an inkling of the sheer significance of this investment to our manufacturing sector, I need only say that the last time the country managed to attract a greenfield investor that started its manufacturing operations with a comparable number of employees was in 1981."
Tags: banknotes, Crane & Co.,
