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‘Back to Basics’ Fuels More
Innovation at Thin-Gauge Former
By James J. Callari, Editorial Director
Tray-Pak Corp. was started in 1975 in a
manner similar to many others in plastics
during that colorful time, fueled more by an
entrepreneurial spirit than cash. The family-owned company
was launched by the late David Bestwick, who bought and renovated used equipment from an old W.R. Grace plant near the
Reading, Pa., facility the thermoformer (traypak.com) still calls
home. Since then, Tray-Pak has been broadly recognized as a
pioneer and innovator in thin-gauge forming. It got into toolbuilding in 1982 via acquisition, received AIB certification for its
food-packaging products in 1995, got ISO certified in 1999,
expanded into a third building in Reading in 2003, and opened
a Class 8 certified clean room in 2007.
It’s all the stuff of which fast and flexible companies are
made, and the honors soon followed. In 2007 it won an innovation award from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania for developing and implementing a production-planning, forecasting, and material-planning system. Two
years later, Bestwick was honored as Thermoformer of the Year
by the Society of Plastics Engineers.
So what happens when a company immersed in the culture of
family ownership, with a workforce of more than 250—many of
whom have ties to the company going back 20 years—is suddenly acquired by new investors? That was the situation in 2009,
when the Bestwick family sold Tray-Pak to TPC Partners LLC,
which currently holds a majority stake in the firm (key employees still hold minority positions).
TPC’s first order of business was to appoint Scott Myers as
president/CEO. An engineer, Myers had most recently been executive vp at WinCup, Inc., a leading Georgia-based molder of EPS
cups, bowls, and containers.
So forget what you think you know about capital investors,
because in the case of Tray-Pak, innovation, sustainability,
product development, customer focus, and—perhaps most importantly—safety, continue to be the fuel that power doubledigit growth at this thermoformer.
“We’ve had a rich history, and when new ownership came in
we wanted to continue with the strategy of providing our customers innovative packaging solutions,” Myers notes. “In fact, we
wanted to take that strategy to the next step. Our goal is to generate one new product (i.e., a new tool) a day. We do 1500 different
designs a year. And what we’ve found is that 60% of our revenue
46 february 2012 Plastics Technology
Tray-Pak’s post-trim thermoforming capacity is housed in
its newest building, where machines are lined up by size
from smallest to largest.
is from products we launched within the last three years.”
Most might not make the direct connection, but Tray-Pak
believes a renewed emphasis on safety—initiated immediately
after new ownership came in—has increased its efficiency and
the development of new products.
“In two years’ time, we moved to the top 10% in safety in
our industry,” remarks Myers. “This can be measured by looking at total recordable incidents, workers’ compensation claims,
and the like. Safety drives everything we do. In my career I have
never seen innovative products and technology coming from a
manufacturing plant where safety wasn’t considered critical.”
Adds Bob Chapleski, director of manufacturing, “We re-energized and reinvigorated our former safety initiatives. We enhanced
our safety processes, holding regular Safety Committee meetings
that must be attended by all managers. We have safety audits with
timely follow-up by key department managers. We’ve invested in
safety, and we’ve set up a system of safety accountability.”
FAST AND FLEXIBLE
The charge to generate a new product a day requires Tray-Pak to
tray-pak
truly be a part of their customer’s design team. “We provide the
full range of what we call ‘up-front’ services to customers,”
states Steve Maguire, new product development manager. “We
have digital 3D-scanning and rapid-prototyping systems that
allow us to get a product sample to a customer in a day or two.
Most of our production tools are in aluminum; we build them
all here with eight CNC machines. We have AutoCAD, Solidworks, and MasterCam technologies, and we have seven sample
thermoformers for quick product runs.
“So all the hardware and software is there to enable us to get
to the market quickly,” says Maguire. “But our relationship with
our customers is as much of a point of distinction between us
and our competitors as the technology we bring to the table.
“We are regularly invited to brainstorm with them at meetings where we try to develop an innovative solution or perhaps
solve a problem that they didn’t even know they had. The word
‘partnership’ might be cliché, but that is truly what we strive for.
In one instance, where the customer was shaping candy in a mold
before packaging it, we were able to design a package that functioned as both the mold and the final package.”
More recently, working with a food-processing customer,
Tray-Pak was able to significantly decrease the carbon footprint
of a major retailer’s private-label brand. The packaging was
redesigned to decrease weight by 12.9%, while maintaining part
performance and volume. The redesign
significantly lessened the transportation
requirements, saving over 2000 gal of fuel
and ultimately reducing greenhouse gas
emissions by 19 metric tons. Additionally,
Tray-Pak used the customer’s finishedgoods boxes to ship the packaging to the
food-processing facility, saving 24 tons of
corrugated from going to a landfill.
Food packaging is at the core of TrayPak’s business, accounting for well above
half of its orders. It also supplies the medical, consumer goods, and electronic industries. Tray-Pak does no extrusion—its
wide array of product offerings are run in
quantities ranging from 50,000 to 50
million pieces, making dedicated extrusion lines impractical. Not being tied to
one type of extrusion system or another
also enables the thermoformer to run a
wide range of materials.
“We dabble in it all,” says David Hikes,
engineering manager. “We thermoform all
types of PET, polystyrene, PVC, PE, and
sustainable materials like PLA. No particular kind of material represents more
than 30% of the total, and that is not really
conducive to doing our own extrusion.”
Recently Tray-Pak became one of the
Tray-Pak thermoforms a wide array of trays, containers, lids
and bowls for various segments of the food industry, as well as
the medical, electronics, and aerospace markets.
first processors to thermoform UPES resin from Nova Chemical,
Monaca, Pa., a PS/PE interpolymer additive that is aimed at broadening the processing window of HDPE. In one application for fresh
produce, Tray-Pak ran sheet to produce a product that formed 33%
Plastics Technology february 2012 47
faster and with better part aesthetics, faster startup, and lower scrap
rate. In another UPES application—this one for institutional food—
Tray-Pak developed a package that boosted throughput by as much
as 50% while improving part performance 30%, and saving 20% in
material usage.
VERSATILE FORMING CAPABILITIES
Tray-Pak runs 40+ cut-in-place and post-trim thermoforming
lines from a wide range of suppliers, including SencorpWhite,
Brown Machine, and GN Thermoforming
Equipment. It runs 100% rollstock and
thermoforms products from 6.5 to 70 mils
thick. It operates three shifts five days a
week. Skeletal scrap is ground and sold to
sheet suppliers.
Quality control on all lines is performed
every 30 to 60 minutes, and data is tracked
electronically for 24/7 access. Tray-Pak’s
quality system incorporates GMPs (Good
Manufacturing Practices) as outlined in the
21 CFR 110 and AIB’s Food Safety Program. Test data for medical products is
stored for three years, and its system allows
for full traceability back to raw materials.
Tray-Pak’s new ISO Class 8 clean
room brings cutting-edge technology to
the thermoformed packaging needs of the
medical, electronics, and aerospace industries. The facility is designed to accommodate two state-of-the-art, servo-driven
thermoforming lines. Each is equipped
with quick-change tooling and integrated
process control, which provides production flexibility to efficiently meet volume
requirements for quantities from 1000 to 10,000,000 units.
“Tray-Pak was started by an entrepreneur and we never lost
the entrepreneurial spirit,” Myers says. “We’ll continue to push
safety because that drives performance and supports innovation.
We’ll continue to develop one new product a day. We’ll continue
to focus not on parts or packages necessarily, but on innovative
packaging solutions. We’ll continue to invest in technology that
improves our business, and our customer’s business. We’ll continue to be fast…faster than the competition.”
overage...
Releasing more than 200 products/yr
makes part inspection an important
part of the process. Here, from left to
right, Mike Clark, lead process technician; Troy Hill, new product development manager; and Bob Chapleski, director of manufacturing,
review a part fresh from the mold.
Plastics Technology february 2012 49