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The organisation now known as Icon Plastics,
but more recently as Marley Plastics, had its origins as the extrusions
arm of the caravan manufacturing organisation Viscount Caravans,
based in Wetherill Park, NSW. Renamed as Viplas, the division
was sold off in the mid 1980s to private investors.
In 1988, Dunlop Olympic acquired Viplas for part of its new
Plastics Division under Olympic General Products. Together with
the acquisition of Futureform and the Brisbane plant of Hunter
Douglas, Viplas Olympic was born. Known mainly in the plastics
industry for its extrusion capabilities for the building industry,
injection moulding facilities were added with the acquisition
of Rosebank Plastics at Hallam, Victoria.
In October 1995, the Marley Group bought the compounding, extruding
and injection moulding operations of Barfell Industries,
Plasticoat, Viplas Olympic, Rosebank Plastics and Improdex businesses
from the Plastics Division of Pacific Dunlop. Barfell Industries & Plasticoat
increased the product range to include hosing, ducting
and vents, whilst Improdex dealt with raw materials. At the time,
the Marley Group had divisions located in the Germany, Hungary,
Austria, Poland, South Africa, Malaysia, United States of America
and New Zealand, with a head office situated in the United Kingdom.
The Improdex and Rosebank businesses were sold off soon after
acquisition.
In 1999, the Marley Group was purchased by the Etex Group, a
Belgian organisation who specialised in roofing, flooring, cladding
and other
polymer products to markets in Europe, North and South
America, Africa and the Asia Pacific regions. The
Etex group is established in 48 countries and comprises of 180
industrial and commercial companies employing 32,000 people.
In 2001, the businesses of Barfell & Plasticoat were sold,
and the interstate manufacturing facilities were condensed
into the two existing plants at Hallam, VIC and Nudgee, QLD.
In 2003, the Marley Group sold Marley Plastics to private investors.
In 2004, the registered company name was changed to Icon Plastics,
to reflect our iconic status in the plastics industry. Now wholly
Australian owned, Icon's head office is located in the outer-eastern
suburb of Hallam in Melbourne. Icon Plastics has a workforce of
approximately 200 employees spread over the head office and three
manufacturing plants located in Hallam, and Nudgee in Queensland.
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