Reconnecting and Touring
I traveled to the Madison area to re-connect with a number of past acquaintances, touring a number of companies! I visited with Jake Weihert at American Packaging Corporation located in Columbus, WI.
APC has 1,212 total employees across the USA and generates $320.53 million. There are 11 companies in the American Packaging Corporation family. APC was established in 1902 as a family-owned business with only one major ownership change. APC has been recognized at a “Best of the BEST” Workplace for six consecutive years. APC is a leader in flexible packaging focused on the food, medical, personal care, pharmaceutical and a variety of other specialty items.
APC added Deforest, WI building a 170,000-sq-ft plant with two state of the art 10-unit robotic gravure printing presses and supporting finishing equipment. APC invested $50 million in the plant. APC celebrated a break ground on the APC newest facility in Cedar City, UT with a new 275,000-square-foot facility, bringing in more than 135 new, high pay jobs. The project in Cedar City is just the first of three planned phases.
I also met with Joel Schmidt, the General Manager at ePac in Middleton, WI, and he provided an outstanding tour of their facility. ePac began its operations in 2016 in Madison, WI. The new company is dedicated to the growing short-run multiple SKI, quick-turn flexible packaging market.
ePac is the first “Greenfield” flexible packaging company in North America based exclusively on a digital technology platform using the HP Indigo 20000.
ePac’s founders began with a mission to help local, small brands obtain big brand presence with great packaging. The platform also provides customers the opportunity to quickly roll out marketing promotions and eliminate excess inventory through print-on-demand services.
ePac currently has locations throughout the Unites States, Canada and worldwide expansions. ePac flexible Packaging is set to top $200 million in sales in 2021.
GBIG is planning a tour of Placon’s recycling facilities in Fitchburg, WI on Nov. 16, 2022, starting at 10am. Placon was founded in 1966 by Tom Mohs focusing on a plastics Thermoforming company servicing the food service and medical packaging markets. Placon has more than 1,000 employees with annual revenues topping $200 million.
Placon’s engineering and packaging solutions were way beyond the rest of the industry. The company was awarded the Wisconsin Governor’s Award for Waste Recycling! Placon became one of the first thermoforming companies in the food and consumer packaging industry to open a complete Recycling Facility for Post Consumer Bottles and Thermoforms called ecostar plastics!
Go to: www.placon.com/sustainability for more information!
