New film plant to expand Perfecseal's future

Source: Perfecseal

Date: 3/7/2003

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Perfecseal’s new film plant will spur future sales growth, develop new film structures, and achieve medical quality standards, the company president says.

Perfecseal will begin operating in the new, spacious blown film plant in New London, WI, by mid year 2003 according to Paul Verbeten, President of Perfecseal North America. The plant will be dedicated to producing film for Perfecseal's medical packaging market and related markets.

New Perfecseal Plant in New London, WI
“There will be no other medical film manufacturing plant like it in North America!”

Perfecseal is a fast-growing division of Bemis Flexible Packaging, and the new plant will supply film to its global locations in Oshkosh, Philadelphia, the island of Puerto Rico, Ireland, and Malaysia. The film will be used to package products such as syringes, sutures, surgical gloves, gauze, catheters, and stents, Verbeten said.

Since Perfecseal became part of the Bemis Company six years ago, its film sales have put up double digit sales increases every year. Total film sales have grown to 12 times the 1996 figure. “We plan to increase the speed of sales growth with a new film plant,” Verbeten said. “In the long term, we hope to penetrate the pharmaceutical and health care markets,” he said.

“There will be no other medical film manufacturing plant like it in North America!” Verbeten predicted. The new structure will stand on its own about 800 feet from the existing Curwood New London complex.

The core of the new plant will be new blown film machines of the latest design. These multi-million dollar machines perform complex manufacturing operations to produce a single film with distinct layers.

Verbeten said the new building will also house rewinders and areas for resin, raw materials, work in process, finished goods, and a Quality Assurance lab. In phase one, Curwood will provide coating and laminating operations as needed. The plan also leaves the door open for major expansion in the future.

Eventually the plant could employ 24 people, Verbeten said. “We will start one blown film line first,” he said. Employees will be represented by the existing union and brought on as needed.

Perfecseal tapped Tim Runge to manage the new plant; Runge currently manages Perfecseal’s PIP (Plant In a Plant) at the Curwood New London complex.

Verbeten praised Bemis Flexible Packaging’s many existing blown film lines. “Bemis has a tremendous amount of expertise, innovation, and depth in blown film,” he said. Why then does Perfeceseal need its own dedicated film plant? The answer lies in future growth, innovative film structures, and quality requirements for medical packaging.

Having their own film plant will be a strong selling point for Perfecseal customers. "Customers will be very impressed and pleased we did it," Verbeten said. "But we still have to be price competitive," he emphasized. A dedicated film plant will open doors to new customers.

The new plant will also allow Perfecseal “to construct its own component film better suited in cost and performance for medical packaging," Verbeten said. "We can modify film layers to optimize performance and reduce cost. It will absolutely help us innovate and create new products," he said.

Bemis’ clean, modern plants annually meet the high standards of food packaging, as audited by the American Institute of Bakers, for example. However, the quality and cleanliness standards for medical packaging “are a distance apart,” Verbeten said. To Perfecseal’s customers, clean means medical cleanliness.

Acceptable levels of film defects also differ between food and medical packaging. Perfecseal will “pursue ISO 9000 certification” for the new plant, Verbeten said. ISO 9000 is an independently audited, internationally recognized quality standard.

Verbeten said medical quality and cleanliness begin with “a frame of mind” that employees will be able to focus on in a separate plant. A variety of techniques will be used to promote sanitary conditions. Employees will have locker rooms and wear uniforms. All body hair will be covered including arms, legs, top of the head, beards, and moustaches.

“The environment will minimize particulate exposure,” Verbeten said. Also, the air pressure in the plant will be slightly higher than outdoors. Thus, when a door is opened, air will hiss out preventing contaminants from entering.

Another reason for a dedicated plant is the expectations of Perfecseal’s customers. Medical device manufacturers expect full packaging traceablility. Their film specifications are tight; no changes are allowed in manufacturing processes or even resin. Because the Perfecseal packaging material is the last line of protection before a surgeon uses a medical device, our customers look at defects as a life or death issue, Verbeten said. That's why traceability, quality, and cleanliness are so important.