Industry Packaging Founded 1971 | Website www.weatherchem.com Parent organization Mold-Rite Plastics, LLC | |
Type Packaging and containers Key people Albert J. Weatherhead III (Owner)
Jennifer Altstadt (President)
Anna Frolova-Levi (VP of Marketing)
Carol Rinder (VP of Operations)
Kevin Stevens (VP of Sales) Headquarters Twinsburg, Ohio, United States Profiles | ||
Sustainability at weatherchem by jennifer altstadt
Weatherchem Corporation, headquartered in Twinsburg, Ohio, designs and manufactures plastic dispensing closures for packaging. Founded with the acquisition of Akheny Co. in 1971, Weatherchem created the original Flapper dispensing closure. Weatherchem’s customers include manufacturers of food, chemical and personal-care products. In 2001, Weatherchem was the first company to roll out a revolutionary new e-commerce solution in the packaging industry, teaming with the e-commerce company eWinWin and licensing eWinWin’s patent-pending technology called the Demand Aggregation System, or DAS, to enable buyers to aggregate orders on-line to lower their costs. After adding four new all-electric Engel presses to its cap-making operation in 2009, Plastic News magazine reported that “Weatherchem Corp. stands as an example of how an injection molder can remain healthy in down times and flourish in good times.”
Contents
Innovative packaging for vitamins by weatherchem
General
The corporation, acquired as Akheny Co. by Albert J. Weatherhead in 1971, designs and manufactures dispensing closure products for packaging. The caps are injection-molded and made from polypropylene. The corporation’s customer base includes chemical, healthcare, dry food, pet food and seasoning products, as well as liquid condiments, creamers and specialty milks. Weatherchem received ISO 9001 quality certification in 1995 and was recognized compliant with GMA-SAFE (Supplier Audits for Food Excellence) in 2006. Food companies such as McCormick, Kraft and Nestle use GMA- SAFE to confirm that suppliers comply with agreed-upon safety and security standards.
Products
Weatherchem’s standard line includes products with flap-style dispensing for one-handed use, as well as products with non-removable grinders. Weatherchem’s original Flapper Dispensing Closure was introduced in 1983. That patented technology is used in the food industry by such companies as McCormick, as well as in the healthcare, personal-care and chemical industries. Weatherchem’s NutraFlapper can be found on Nature Made and similar product lines, while its Agricap, a heavy-duty, tamper-evident closure, can be found in the agricultural chemicals market. In 2006, the company introduced four new products: the Grinder NR, LiquiFlapper, FlapMate and NutraGen II. The Grinder NR is a dry-spice packaging system with a non-removable grinder and a non-refillable polyethylene container. (The Grinder NR design is specifically intended to discourage reuse in order to force consumers to purchase high-profit-margin new units instead of simply refilling already-purchased units with economical bulk spices.) LiquiFlapper is used for the controlled dispensing of liquid products. The sift-resistant FlapMate eliminates the need for liner removal. NutraGen II is designed for the dispensing of larger pills. Through its technical services group, Weatherchem provides in-line manufacturing trials, product performance studies and guidance on sustainability practices in manufacturing.
Sustainability Initiatives
As part of a continuous sustainability improvement program, Weatherchem has designed all of its new products to be as light as possible while still maintaining overall functionality. It also has introduced a new sift-resistant, fully contained closure that eliminates a liner, has made the paper and foils in liners thinner, has reduced scrap by 50 percent annually over the past 3 years and has implemented a company-wide recycling program. In 2008, the company purchased four new electric presses, which require 30 percent less energy and are cleaner than traditional hydraulic presses. In 2009, Weatherchem replaced two additional hydraulic presses with electric presses and installed a green energy chiller that uses Ohio weather to cool its presses.