Leading flexible packaging company ProAmpac announced Feb. 18 that it is building a Collaboration & Innovation Center at its manufacturing plant near Rochester, N.Y.
The 25,000-square-foot facility will house engineers and product development teams, giving them a place where they can work with customers to speed the development of new packaging.
Chief Commercial Officer Adam Grose will oversee operations at the center.
"We're raising the bar in innovation through collaboration involving our own teams and those of our customers and suppliers. The need became apparent for additional space to design, test and meet with our customers," Grose said in a news release.
The company will receive a $1.35 million capital grant from the Empire State Development group. The center is scheduled to open in mid-2021.
The center will be home base for ProAmpac's Design & Sample Lab, which designs and does rapid prototyping work for new packaging, plus a new analytical testing lab, new equipment for development and testing, and training space for more than 80.
ProAmpac's existing Rochester facility has the capability to do short runs of flexible pouches.
"We can produce literally from one pouch to millions," Grose said. "Short runs are extremely valuable for limited production-line testing of new packaging concepts that have just been prototyped."
Cincinnati-based ProAmpac is owned by Pritzker Private Capital along with management and co-investors. The company placed No. 9 in the most recent Plastics News ranking of North American film & sheet manufacturers, with 16 plants and estimated sales of $990 million.