Inside Polypack’s Green Company by Natalie Craig
Weathering uncertain times, the leaders of Polypack are handling growth and increased demand, while also keeping their eye on innovation and saving the environment through sustainable packaging, operations, and equipment.
Take a virtual video tour of Polypack, Inc. on OEM Magazine’s YouTube channel: oemgo.to/polypacktour
At the end of March, OEM Magazine sat down—via Skype—with Emmanuel Cerf, vice president of Polypack, a secondary packaging OEM focusing on shrink and corrugate bundling. By then, most major U.S. cities were already in lockdown as the novel coronavirus pandemic spread rapidly. Like many OEMs, Polypack was faced with balancing on-time production, supporting its customers who were experiencing increased demand, and keeping its employees safe and healthy.
“One third of my employees are working from home right now,” says Cerf, emphasizing the biggest focus isn’t keeping up with production, but protecting employee health. “Thankfully, we’re doing fine. We make a point to reiterate the social distancing guidelines and the rules that are easy to forget and hard to follow on a manufacturing floor, but it’s working.”
Classified as an essential business with many CPGs needing their product, Polypack follows all of the proper Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. And at the time of this interview, the measures seem to be working as zero employees had tested positive for the virus.
“Our customers will be okay, and we will be okay,” Cerf says. “We’re not worried about having to close our doors, it’s more about the people aspect and the employees themselves that we have to make sure we can protect as much as we can.”
Even as Polypack navigates the effects of COVID-19, the company remains steadfast in its commitment to sustainability—a pledge it made several decades ago that still guides every aspect of the organization. Its mission to be a responsible corporate citizen follows it around the world as, through the years, the company has made some bold moves toward global growth.
