Clear Lam Opens Co-Packing & Innovation Facility
- Published: November 25, 2014
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL | Clear Lam Packaging, a manufacturer of rigid and flexible packaging materials for thousands of food, industrial goods, and personal healthcare products, will open a new 25,000-sq-ft Co-Packing Facility and Innovation Center at its Elk Grove Village manufacturing operation in early 2015.
Clear Lam has invested $2 million in equipment and technology to launch the new operation, which will support consumer products utilizing its patented PrimaPak system. The operation will employ 23 individuals and will be focused on producing PrimaPak packaging for test markets, regional rollouts, seasonal items as well as national distribution.
The Co-Packing Facility will specialize in dry, free-flowing products using the PrimaPak vertical F/F/S system with combination scale weigher. It will start with two state-of-the-art production lines with a combined production capacity of 20 million units/yr. Additional lines will be added in the future. Clear Lam will also assist on an as-needed basis with the sourcing and purchasing of raw materials; shipping, freight, and logistic services; and inventory and warehouse storage of materials and findings.
“The introduction of our new Co-Packing Facility and Innovation Center is an exciting development for Clear Lam and for the advancement of our PrimaPak System,” says James Sanfilippo, Clear Lam president and CEO. “We understand that many of our customers are looking for opportunities to streamline processes and improve efficiencies in their packing operations without taking on new staff or having to purchase new equipment.”
The company says it has made this strategic investment to provide customers with an end-to-end solution for the PrimaPak System, covering everything from the packaging materials to the design, printing, filling, sealing, labeling, and packing services to get products to market faster. The facility has the flexibility to handle small-batch test product runs and long-term packaging needs. Applications include salty snacks, nuts, candy, dried fruit, cereals, pet foods, detergent pods, fertilizer, and more.
The Innovation Center includes a quality control laboratory where analytical testing can be performed on packaging products and materials to ensure they meet performance standards and customer specifications. The company reports it takes a collaborative approach to this process, working closely with customers to ensure the raw materials and finished product will perform as expected in the marketing environment for which the package is designed. This includes tests for strength and other physical properties, oxygen transmission rates, and optical properties of various packaging materials.
Commercial applications for the PrimaPak technology were launched in North America last fall. The patented technology produces a cubed, semi-rigid package with a reclosable feature from proprietary rollstock. Clear Lam says PrimaPak packaging is designed as a replacement for rigid cans, bottles, jars, trays, and select flexible packaging, adding it is lightweight, stackable, merchandises on six sides, and improves cube by 30% or more.
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