TechniPac, Inc., Le Sueur, Minn., officially opened May 1 last year as a contract converter. The company had purchased a Pac One AIB-approved 50,000-sq-ft facility perfectly suited to TechniPac's needs for slitting materials, applying zipper to rollstock with the Inno-Lok® process and making pouches. Within three to four months it was already turning a profit. "That's pretty good in my mind when you only have so many pieces of equipment to cover your overhead," says Mark Steele, president of TechniPac.

TechniPac started with a Totani pouch machine and a Hudson-Sharp Inno-Lok zipper machine. It also installed a new Deacro C-24A slitter/rewinder to add to its contract converting line. This April, another Hudson-Sharp Inno-Lok unit was added to the lineup. Two more Totani pouch machines are on order, along with a Pactiv slider unit. All equipment should be installed by the end of summer 2002.

"If a converter calls up and says, 'I can't get this done, we need this slit and shipped ASAP, can you do it?'" says Tim LaBonte, vp of sales and marketing, "we want to be able to service that." With the majority of its business in pouching and in Inno-Loking, TechniPac came upon the idea that the Deacro slitter could not only handle its internal needs, but could also be an added profit center for the company. "We've had a taste of what could be. For a while there we had 60 pallets in the warehouse that had to be slit," says LaBonte. "It made us revisit our goals for our slitting department."

TechniPac ordered a Deacro slitter as well as purchasing a used Dusenbery. The Dusenbery will mainly be employed for internal support for the converter's other equipment.

The Deacro Model C-24A slitter/rewinder came equipped with a rewind diameter capacity of 24 in. and an unwind OD of up to 40 in. Web widths from 1 to 63 in. are also standard with web speeds up to 1,500 fpm.

Roll-lock differential airshafts (spacerless) with the capability for paper or plastic cores; a servo-actuated, triple-mode lay-on system with minimum gap, pneumatic lay-on or narrow web configuration; and a maintenance-free AC-vector digital drive system are all beneficial features of the model.

A PC control system is standard with database file management for precise repeatability. A 15-in. color touchscreen allows the operator to control the machine with the interface graphic display. Diagnostics were built-in to operate the system and made accessible through TCS.

A digital knife-positioning system for rapid setups and precise cut accuracy and a razor/shear slitting system was added along with a cantilevered/lift-out mandrel combination rewind for maximum versatility.

"The slitter itself has digital positioning for our blades. They can run shear, razor, and we can even adapt it to do score. It's a very versatile slitter," says Steele.

And if that wasn't enough, there are other features that can be added in the future. "I asked what will it entail to add more features later," says Steele. "Most of them are pretty easy to add on. It's not like you have to rebuild the machine."

Since TechniPac is a brand new company, being successful now and in the future is key. With a mission statement to provide its customers with superior products and services in flexible packaging, TechniPac is definitely on the right track.

"TechniPac is already a success story as far as I'm concerned," says Steele. He attributes that to well-trained employees. "We have a great staff," he brags. "It's so much nicer to go home, and you don't have to worry about things."

Customers and suppliers are of equal importance. "I don't care about how good you are at what you do, how cheap you can sell it for, how creative you are, how fast you can turn stuff around. It all starts with relationships and partnerships with your customers," says Steele.

"They have to be able to trust me and trust that I'll do as I say. Anything that's confidential will remain confidential. I have to truly be an extension of them and they have to feel comfortable with that.

"We've been in the industry long enough that we have great relationships with a lot of people out there that have put faith in us. I truly believe that's the biggest part of success—partnerships, not only with your customers but with your suppliers. Our suppliers are as important to our success as our customers, as are our employees," says Steele.