Packaging Solutions Holdings to Build New Facility

Packaging Solutions Holdings, Inc., a new packaging company formed by Wellspring Capital Management and industry-veteran Harold Bevis, announced its plans to build a new state-of-the-art, greenfield packaging plant in the Midwest. The plant will design and manufacture cheese packaging, pouch materials, pet food packaging, medical packaging, produce packaging and snack food packaging. The new plant will be equipped with new tandem-head, multi-layer extrusion laminating equipment; quick-change, new 10-color printing press equipment; new high-speed winding equipment; and new laser scoring and laser perforating equipment.

The new plant will operate as a new division of Jen-Coat, an operating division of Packaging Solutions Holdings. Jen-Coat is one of North America’s largest and laminators and this investment will add significant depth and breadth to the company’s offerings. The plant is being designed up-front to meet all high-end qualifications for the food and medical industries. The company intends to certify the plant and meet the following standards: AIB, ISO, FSC, SFI, and PEFC. The plant will have chain of custody and traceability for its products.

Jen-Coat believes it will be the first company in North America with redundant plant, tandem-head extrusion capabilities serving the food and medical packaging industries. The new extrusion lamination equipment draws on more than 40 years of experience with these types of production lines at Jen-Coat. The equipment will be custom-made by Davis-Standard, LLC Converting Systems and then modified in house by Jen-Coat personnel to incorporate all of Jen-Coat’s proprietary trade secrets. This line will be one of the highest output and fastest changeover lines in the world. These attributes are an important strategic complement to Jen-Coat’s extensive capacity and capabilities in printing, metalizing, extrusion laminating and adhesive laminating.

The plant will also be able to produce almost all of Jen-Coat’s current product lines and will provide both back-up plant capability and low-cost geographic coverage for all of Jen-Coat’s customers. The new location in the Midwest complements its location in Westfield, Massachusetts. Jen-Coat will be able to shorten its cycle times and provide much faster service for all Jen-Coat customers in the West, Midwest, and Southwest United States and Western Canada.

The new plant will house a full complement of new packaging equipment including:

• A new extrusion laminator that in-line laminates any combination of three base materials—paper, foil and film. It has two laminating heads each equipped to deliver three layers of polymers. This capability is ideal for cheese packaging, pouches, pet food packaging, stick packs, medical packaging and snack food packaging.
• A new 10-color printing press that generates the highest resolution graphics at world-class speeds, specially designed for quick changeover and fast color match in order to accommodate both short-runs and long-runs effectively.
• A new high-speed winder with a built-in laser system to produce all types of easy-tear, perforations, venting and easy-open features.
• New testing equipment to enable sophisticated and rapid product innovation trials.

Packaging Solutions Holdings has already ordered its long lead-time equipment and intends to begin operations in its new plant in mid-2011. The plant location will be decided shortly.

Jim Kauffman, President of Jen-Coat, said, “We are very excited to provide new capabilities and capacity to our current and new customers. The additional new plant and equipment are a critical next step in our plan to lead the industry for extrusion laminating and printing. Commensurate with this capital investment program, we are also adding new commercial and technical personnel to our team to deepen our innovation programs and to penetrate new markets.”

Harold Bevis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Packaging Solutions Holdings, said, “This new plant enhances our operational footprint, expands our technical and product development expertise, and increases our ability to serve customers across North America. The addition of the new machines in this plant and our $20 million investment in the new facility underscores our commitment to building a new high-end packaging company and our plan to grow it through capacity expansion, greenfield investments, organic growth and synergistic acquisitions.”