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Crownhill Packaging recently had the pleasure of attending the Pregis Fabricators meeting on November 18th & 19th. Attended by Rodney Taylor (Vice President) and Michael Cancilla (Director of Sales), this meeting brought together 23 fabricators from across North America.
Taking place at Pregis’s new IQ facility (Innovation Headquarters) in Aurora, Illinois, the agenda was full for both days with an array of exciting topics. Matt Heil, Director of Engineered Products, greeted everyone and facilitated the meeting. The meeting was kicked off by the introduction to Damon Lucenta, IQ Packaging Manager, and a thorough tour of the brand-new Pregis design and testing facility. Everyone was impressed by this new facility and the technology it was showcasing. Next up to present was Laurin Darnell, President of RTU & Systems. Laurin spoke about the future of Pregis and the recent buy-out by Warburg Pincus. Everyone is excited about the future path Pregis is heading down.
One of the big highlights of the event was the openness of all the parties who attended the meeting. During our roundtable, breakout, and even main group discussions, everyone was open to discussing their best practices, employment issues, technology gaps, technology and automation improvements, supplier issues, alternative foams, and even our competitors. Many great ideas were ably exchanged.
Tuesday’s meeting began with a presentation by Joey Phister, VP of Sales -RTU, on how Pregis can help their fabricators crack the distributor code and sell deeper into distribution. It is a fascinating topic with many different viewpoints on selling through this channel.
One of the more exciting and essential presentations came from Clint Smith, Director of Sustainability for Pregis. Polyethylene foams are certainly a taboo topic with many people and organizations these days. But, with the ever-increasing number of shipments via ecommerce platforms, it is imperative that products are adequately protected. Clint presented a case study showing the significant increase in a product’s carbon footprint when it arrives at a consumer damaged. It certainly was an eye-opener for many people.
Thank you, Pregis, for putting on a great event. Crownhill Packaging looks forward to seeing everyone at the next Pregis Fabricators meeting in Mexico.