Rapidly growing Profile Films adding Michigan plant

Film and bag maker Profile Industrial Packaging Corp. is investing heavily in an expansion that will give it a new plant adjacent to its existing one — yet in another town.

The company, dba Profile Films, is located in Walker, Mich. The new plant, barely a stone's throw away but across city lines, will be in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Profile Films got the go-ahead Aug. 11 from the Grand Rapids Planning Commission to take down the very old, very large building on the lot next door. Asbestos abatement has started, and heavy demolition should begin in October, according to Chris Caswell, vice president of sales and finance.

The food packaging and industrial film company paid $3.2 million in July for the 9-acre property. The main building, constructed in phases from 1918 to 1967, covers 250,000 square feet.

It's been 10 years since any businesses operated in the main building and two decades since it was fully occupied. The building once housed General Motors Corp. operations. Previously, Chicago-based Haskelite Manufacturing Corp. used the site as a lumber yard making laminate wood panels for boats and airplanes. The company made plywood for everything from the "Hasko Haskelite Mystic Tray" — the company's version of Hasbro's Ouija board — to pilot Charles Lindberg's Spirit of St. Louis.

The site also once housed a post office, and its most recent owner, Cloud Cannabis Co., had wanted to start a commercial growing operation there but scaled back plans significantly to a small area in the back of the lot for retail and processing, Caswell said.

Despite its storied history, the building is considered dangerous and will be gone soon, though the smokestack will remain for nostalgia's sake, Caswell said.

Construction on the new plant will begin next year, but Profile Films has yet to decide whether to build all 184,000 square feet now, or do it in phases. In the long run, building everything at once would make construction less costly.

"But we probably only need about one-third of that [space] right now," Caswell said by phone. "We still have some decisions to make."

All told, the company is investing about $70 million in the demolition, construction and equipment. The production equipment alone will probably cost a total of $15 million to $20 million, Caswell said.

"We already have most of the equipment we need; we need the space. We haven't pin-pointed how many machines we'll need — at least a couple extrusion lines and probably a couple conversion lines," he said.

The company, founded in 1998 by CEO Steve Ehmann, undertook a major expansion in 2015, moving from a 92,000-square-foot plant to its current plant of about 200,000 square feet. Profile Films is installing a new extrusion line there right now — its 23rd — then there will be no more room for expansion in that building.

Caswell said a Dutch packaging maker his company does business with is now looking to Profile Films to help it expand in the United States. He declined to name the company but said the new space will help accommodate that business.

Profile Films now employs about 175. Though the company is almost doubling its space, the new building will be more automated, so Caswell expects to hire about 65 new people.

The company has grown quickly in recent years, going from $58.6 million in 2020 sales to $82.7 million for 2021, rising nine spots to place No. 80 in this year's Plastics News' film and sheet survey. Caswell said he expects sales to reach $90 million in 2022.

See Profile, Page