Portco's 3-Year, Dual-plant Expansion: Chapter 1 - Printing
Portco Packaging’s commitment to its customers and the ever-changing landscape of the flexible packaging industry is evident in its completion of a 3-year, multimillion dollar dual-plant expansion. From moving its headquarters from Vancouver, Washington to a new, SQF Level 3 certified facility located in Woodland, Washington (just 20 Minutes north of Portland, Oregon), its square footage nearly doubled along with the addition of several state of the art converting lines. In addition, its second location in Toppenish, Washington has undergone multiple upgrades including the addition of 50,000 ft.² of plant space, the achievement of SQF level 2 food safety certification, and the addition of robotics for material palletization.Established in 1934, Portco is a family-owned flexible packaging converter and a renowned leader in the West Coast packaging industry. With nearly a century of experience serving a wide range of markets, Portco Packaging specializes in flexographic printing, multi-ply adhesive lamination of films and paper, and pouch and paper bag converting to meet a variety of requirements.According to Kent Wall, President of Portco:[su_quote]This plant expansion is a reflection of Portco’s commitment to never settle and to strive to help our customers win in the marketplace. We have made investments to help our customers reduce costs for new jobs by lessening their minimum order quantities, reduce print plate costs, shorten lead times and deliver a product of the highest quality as safely and responsibly as we possibly can.[/su_quote]Going forward we will be examining, chapter by chapter, these strategic moves which demonstrate Portco's commitments in not only staying relevant to its customer base, but to continue to be an industry leader in safety, quality, and responsible manufacturing practices.
Chapter 1 - Printing
A Smart Addition - Portco’s new Uteco ONYX XS – Compact Flexographic C.I. PressDue to the proliferation of SKU offerings at the retail level, flexible packaging is facing the general trend of shrinking job lengths. Converters that compete in this space demonstrate the dynamic nature of printing in the flexible packaging arena.Narrow-web label presses generally range up to 18" in width. Above a width of 40" are the wide-web printers and converters. The space between, at 22" to 40", is a press width range that can satisfy the needs of a marketplace in transition. Faster job changeovers, limited waste, lower MOQ’s, and a lower cost of entry along with faster speed to market for new items are the hallmarks of this technology.To address the evolving demand, Portco has added this mid-web capability with the installation of a new Uteco ONYX XS. This addition complements its existing wide-web technology (a 59” wide W&H Miraflex CL10), creating a powerful combination of capabilities to fit a wide range of customer demands. Please enjoy the following video that showcases the installation and early operations of this new addition to Portco’s printing wheelhouse: Video Courtesy: Portco.comHeader Image Courtesy: Portco.com