Sealed Air

History

In 1957, Alfred W. Fielding and Marc Chavannes attempted to invent plastic wallpaper with a paper backing. While the wallpaper failed, Fielding and Chavannes later realized that what they had come up with could be used for packing material. Sealed Air was founded in 1960 based on this invention of Bubble Wrap. That same year, Sealed Air raised $85,000 in its initial public offering. Fielding served as executive vice president and director of Sealed Air until his retirement in 1987, while Chavannes worked mostly as a consultant.

T.J. Dermot Dunphy served as CEO from 1971-2000. Dunphy graduated from Oxford University and received his master of business administration from Harvard Business School. He became Chairman of Kildare Enterprises, LLC in November 2000, after leaving Sealed Air. While with Sealed Air, Dunphy grew sales from $5 million to $3 billion.

William Hickey served as CEO from 2000-March 2013. Prior to being CEO, William Hickey served in several capacities at Sealed Air, including COO, executive vice president, CFO, vice president, and general manager of the Food Packaging Division and the Cellu Products Division. Before working for Sealed Air, he was CPA at Arthur Young and CFO of W. R. Grace and Company’s Latin American operations.

Sealed Air produced the foam that was ignited in the 2003 Station nightclub fire and has paid $25 million to victims in various civil settlements.

In March 2013, Peribere took over as CEO and President of Sealed Air. Peribere obtained his business economics and finance degree from Institut d'études politiques in Paris, France. Before working for Sealed Air, Peribere worked in several managerial roles with Dow Chemical Company from 1977-2012. He also served as president and COO of Sealed Air before taking over as CEO.

On July 23, 2014, Sealed Air announced that it would be moving its global headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Acquisitions

In 1970, Sealed Air acquired Smith Packaging Ltd., which was later renamed Sealed Air of Canada, Ltd., which marked Sealed Air going international. In 1971, Sealed Air marketed a new product. (Encyclopedia) By laminating the AirCap cushioning to paper, the company now had Mail Lite padded shipping envelopes.

In 1973, Sealed Air marketed its first product not based on its bubble technology. Ply-Mask is a pressure sensitive polyethylene film used to protect delicate surfaces from scratches. That same year, Sealed Air brought their market to Europe by acquiring 10 percent of Sibco Universal, S.A., a French manufacturing firm. Over the next few years, Sealed Air bought out the rest of Sibco and came up with The Sealed Air Solar Blanket.

Acquired in 1977, Instapak foam is expanding polyurethane foam that comes in a variety of densities. Used primarily for shipping, the foam-in-bag process molds to the shape of the object and expands to fill the void space of its shipping container.

Sealed Air acquired Cellu Products Co. and Dri-Loc in 1983, Jiffy in 1987, Sentinel in 1991, and the Shurtuff Division of Shuford Mills, Inc. in 1993. 1994 was a busy year for Sealed Air with the acquisitions of Hereford Paper and Allied Products Ltd., Sup-Air-Pack, Fill Air, and packaging companies based in Norway, France, and Italy.

W.R. Grace sold Cryovac to Sealed Air in 1998 for $4.9 billion. In June 2000, Sealed Air purchased Dolphin Packaging for $119 million, to better serve its European customers. In October 2011, Sealed Air acquired Diversey Holdings, Inc..

Company operations

Sealed Air’s Food Care Division makes packaging for the food and beverage industry.

Sealed Air’s Product Care Division produces protective and specialty packaging materials for a wide range of goods.

Sealed Air’s Diversey Care Division creates products for infection prevention, kitchen hygiene, fabric care, building care and consulting. Its products are developed for health care, food service, retail, hospitality and facility services.

Bubble Wrap

Initially created as a failed wallpaper, Bubble was subsequently used as a greenhouse insulator. Finally, it took on its best-known use as a packaging material. In its earliest form, Bubble Wrap suffered from leaky bubbles, but by the mid 1960s a special coating was developed to prevent the bubbles from losing air. In 1969, Sealed Air reported $4 million in sales, mostly attributed to Bubble Wrap, as it was still a proprietary product at that time.

Cryovac

Cryovac is a thin plastic, used to shrink or wrap objects. Depending on the type of job required of it, the plastic comes in a variety of thickness and durability.

One of the uses of Cryovac is to wrap food. Once wrapped, most of the air in the package is removed to prevent oxidation and inhibit the growth of most pathogens. This process also gives food a longer shelf life in the refrigerator or freezer and makes freezer burn nearly impossible. Cryovac Inc., a South Carolina-based company, created this product in the 1950 to extend the shipping distance of freshly slaughtered turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Diversey

Diversey is a provider of cleaning and hygiene products to the institutional marketplace, serving lodging, food service, retail, health care, food and beverage companies, as well as building service contractors worldwide.