When we started the plant here, with the complexity of the machine and the sophisticated products we planned to make, we de-cided to build our team with very specialized people." General manager Yves Déom is summing up the three elements that have made startup company CoFlex Packaging, Inc., such a success in its first year of operation.

"We hired skilled mechanics and electro-technicians," Déom says, during a visit last month by Converting. "We've got the people in-house to do everything internally. By the questions we ask, [coater supplier] Kroenert knows we're really controlling the art of the machine. They're not used to this level of expertise in such a young company."

Launched in late 2002, CoFlex was founded to be a high-precision, thin-substrate coater and laminator serving a variety of industries. Based in the quiet village of Chambly, Que., about 15 miles east of Montreal, Canada, CoFlex installed its new 53.5-in. Kroenert RECO 900A (Kenosha, WI) coating/laminating line in early 2003 and manufactured its first product in May last year (see sidebar). Since then, it has focused on two major categories: silicone-coated release liners for the label, business-forms, tape, industrial and medical markets, and aluminum-foil coating and laminating for the pharmaceutical blister-pack, food and industrial fields.

"We emphasize specialty, niche applications," explains Claude Plourde, sales/marketing manager, "whether it's a release liner that needs exceptional performance characteristics, an unusual lamination or a particular coating required by our customers."

So far, sales are divided roughly 50/50 US and Canada, but European sales aren't far behind. "We've already got a customer whose product, a foil/poly lamination, will ship this month," says Déom. "Six months from now, I'd like to say that 20 percent of business will be coming from Europe."

It is just this distinctive combination of talented labor and high-tech machinery that allows CoFlex to be as flexible as its customers need. Process engineer Benoît Jean and his team have already gone as far as programming some updated components into the main RECO 900A software and adding new units to the coater to achieve both customer and company goals.

"We have to be as specialized as we are because it's so demanding regarding technology," Jean says. "We have to have all the knowledge that we can to make these products."

"We can move from an idea to a commercial state as fast as our customers want us to," adds Mike Bierowicz, US account executive. "If there's a development lag, it's not going to be here. We're not going to be the bottleneck."

Shortening the new-product development cycle is a major aspect of CoFlex's business proposition. Machine modifications, including electronics and software, are accomplished rapidly, if ROI from potential sales is there. Decisions can get made at the close-knit, small company quickly—again letting it turn on a dime.

"We don't have to go through process approval and on and on," says Déom. "If we have to invest $15,000 in a machine and we feel it's good, the decision is going to take five minutes, not weeks. We don't need 10 layers of approval."

The "environmental-friendliness of production" could be the watch-phrase for many of CoFlex's silicone release liners. Both C1S and C2S versions of several different release levels and chemistries are made. Currently, a significant portion of the coating is done solventless and testing continues on the line's Eltosch (Norderstedt, Germany) inert-UV curing equipment.

Why install UV when no sales have yet appeared? Again, CoFlex managers wanted to project a message of flexibility in products and services. "There's more interest in Europe directed toward UV curing, so that may be something that will happen in the next few months," says Déom.

Also down the line: Blister-pack lidding films for pharmaceutical markets are receiving a major push by CoFlex. The "greenfield" plant was built with serving these customers in mind—from the steel walls and positive air pressure in the manufacturing area to the sophisticated laboratory equipment to test and measure high-precision coat weights.

Materials-wise, CoFlex counts among its suppliers a handful of major names: GE Silicones (Waterford, NY), Liofol (Cary, NC) adhesives, Sun Chemical (Northlake, IL) coatings, Corus Metal Services (Schaumburg, IL) and Alcan Lightgauge Products (Mayfield Heights, OH) aluminum foil, Wausau Papers (Rhinelander, WI), Nexfor Fraser Papers (Stamford, CT), and AET Films (New Castle, DE).

CoFlex may have just celebrated the first anniversary of production on the Kroenert RECO 900A, but that's not stopping the proactive converter from investigating a second coating line. In fact, the plant was originally designed for a series of future expansions. A similarly broad range of flexible coating capabilities in the first system will be a hallmark of the next machine, Déom says, but embossing capabilities and a wider width are also in the cards.

"There are some pieces of business that we'd like to go after that our current width prevents us from doing," explains Bierowicz. CoFlex expects to place its order this fall with installation in early 2005.

In summing up the CoFlex operation, Déom prefers to fall back on what he likes to call his keyword: Repeatability. "You have to ship the same exact thing every time, so the customer always knows what they will get. Using data for decision-making lets you achieve repeatability. Base your decision on data; it's the only thing that doesn't lie."