The seeds that flex-pack converter Rollprint Packaging Products, Inc., planted a few years ago are starting to turn into a rich harvest of new business.

Headquartered in Addison, IL, the fully integrated company supplies healthcare, industrial and specialty-foods customers with a diverse range of coated substrates, adhesive laminations, blown and cast films, lidding and pouches. From two plants in Addison and one in Bloomfield, CT, Rollprint Packaging also provides up to 8-color flexographic printing, diecutting, slitting and sheeting.

Originally formed as a subsidiary of Chicago commercial-print house Schenker Printing Co. in 1949, Rollprint became the umbrella company in the mid-1950s. It became focused on medical packaging through a joint venture with Baxter-Travenol in 1968 to develop breathable ethylene-oxide sterilizable pouches. A continuing string of converting and printing system upgrades and expansions led Rollprint to its current high-tech capabilities.

"We're known primarily as a medical-packaging converter," says Dhuanne Dodrill, who was promoted to president/COO last October. "Under the healthcare umbrella, we make product for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and medical markets. To support this, we are registered as a medical-device manufacturer."

Dhuanne, along with her brother, Doug Dodrill, who also advanced last fall to vp-technology from director of extruded products, collaborate closely with Craig Livingston, vp-business development, to move Rollprint forward. Robert Dodrill, father of Dhuanne and Douglas, retains his title as chairman/CEO.

No stranger to selling on the world stage, Rollprint does about 70 percent of its business in North America; the remainder is spread across the globe. A major push toward further growing its international sales came four years ago via a strategic partnership with Pactiv Corp.'s Kobusch-Sengewald division in Halle, Germany. The idea: Benefit top medical-product makers through shared, state-of-the-art technology from two leading medical-packaging suppliers.

A second sowing for a crop of future business came in 2002, when both Rollprint and Kobusch-Sengewald joined forces with Singapore's Acme Packaging Co. (Pte.) Ltd. to serve southeast Asian customers. Already a prominent regional force, Acme had been making flexible medical structures for 15 years.

Still, the wheels of healthcare-packaging sales turn slowly, and Rollprint is only now beginning to see a return on the alliances. "With medical packaging, it takes a while for business to be generated as compared to food packaging," says Livingston. "You can start something two years ago, and now just begin to see the fruits of your labor."

One such fruit is a new irradiation-sterilizable package for Germany's Sengewald Klinikprodukte called the Overture 3D Peel Pack. The all-polymer structure combines Rollprint's FlexForme B2 clear, deep-draw forming web with its Allegrow T peelable, lay-flat web as a lidding material. Used for Sengewald's line of sterile surgical gowns, drapes and covers, the package won a Silver Award for Technical Innovation in last year's Flexible Packaging Assn. Achievement Awards competition.

A second success—another Overture application for a large US-based medical-glove maker with manufacturing in Southeast Asia—featured the teaming up of Rollprint and Acme. "Without both companies working together," explains Livingston, "Rollprint in the States, and Acme in Singapore, neither would have been able to secure the work on its own."

When it comes to healthcare packaging, relationship selling has definitely been more the rule. Lately though, cost pressures from both packagers and end-user customers have been steadily on the rise.

"Our goal is to build those long-term relationships with our customers," says Livingston. "We do that by bringing new technology to the customer resulting in continuous package improvement while lowering overall package cost."

Adds Dhuanne Dodrill, "We find we're often replacing our own product with a less expensive option, ensuring our customer's, and in turn Rollprint's, continued success."

From 5 percent up

Currently, Rollprint's food-market sales account for only about five percent of the total, but company managers have a concerted effort to boost that number. Much of the converter's technology developed specifically for barrier films also has broad food applications, particularly in case-ready meat lidding.

"We'd like to take the technology we have for the medical industry and move that into food," says Dhuanne. For example, Rollprint's extensive line of Allegro peelable sealants have broad uses for both medical and food peelable pouches and tray lidding.

Even aroma-barrier technology for cosmetics and fragrances is likely to find food applications, explains Livingston. "With fragranced cosmetics and perfumes, aroma barrier is required to maintain the aromatics inside the package. Whereas with food, the concern is odor ingress into the package and possibly the food itself." Livingston cites a recent conversation with a large US food company. That business expressed interest in Rollprint's aluminum-oxide coatings as a clear-packaging replacement for a foil-based laminate it's now using.

The potential for European and Asian sales through Rollprint's alliances notwithstanding, Latin America is also looming large on the radar screen for 2005—and not just for healthcare packaging. Both case-ready meat lidding and aroma-barrier packaging for air fresheners are getting notice from Latin American customers, says Livingston.

Getting all these products created, tested and manufactured is the job of Rollprint's comprehensive range of converting and printing systems, centered around its 68-in. Davis-Standard Millennium coextrusion coater/laminator (See Coater Closeup). In addition to three adhesive coater/laminators, various slitter/rewinders, pouchmakers and two CI-flexo presses at the Addison headquarters plants, Rollprint's process-color work gets a boost from the 50-in., 8-color Bobst Schiavi Sirio CI-flexo press at its Bloomfield location.

"For high-end process printing, especially for retail and consumer packaging, we take advantage of the Schiavi's capabilities," says Doug Dodrill. The Connecticut site is also responsible for all Rollprint's flexographic platemaking.

As it expands further into food as well as refining its healthcare lines, Rollprint knows the value of investing in new products. About 25 employees staff the R&D, prototype and quality-assurance labs, and QA is manned 24 hrs/day to support manufacturing. Testing and analysis include structural identification, moisture and oxygen-barrier verification, heat-seal strength, rheology, thermal stability, autoclave-cycle development and shelf-life testing, among others.

Primary substrate and materials suppliers include DuPont Tyvek®, Honeywell nylons, Mitsubishi polyesters, and Huntsman, DuPont, Equistar and Dow resins.

Being a regular winner of FPA technical innovation awards, Rollprint's managers know what they're talking about when it comes to the future of high-tech flexible substrates—and the future is clear.

"There's going to more and more emphasis on barrier materials, particularly clear materials," says Dhuanne Dodrill. "There's rapid growth in that area, extending into active packaging and oxygen scavengers. Also, rigid containers are being replaced with cost-effective, high-performance flexibles."

"We have a tremendous focus within Rollprint centered on down-gauging of films we're currently manufacturing," adds Livingston. "By using new resin technologies and the blending of resins, we can achieve improved physical properties while lowering costs over traditional films."

"An example is extrusion-coated, autoclavable, peelable polypropylene," says Doug Dodrill. "Previously, that structure could only be made by adhesive-laminating multiple webs. Technology now allows us to do that in one step with extrusion coating. From a processing and materials standpoint, it's immensely less expensive."

Having sown the seeds of high-tech capabilities available worldwide to offer customers cost-effective packaging, Rollprint can expect to reap the benefits for years to come.