Engineering Quality
Constant reinvestment at Coating Excellence International has allowed the company to continue to enhance quality in all its products.
July 2007 by Chris Mc Loone
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It’s been 10 years and quite a ride for Wrightstown, Wis.-based Coating Excellence International (CEI). During the past decade, the company has expanded seven times, grown from 13 to 380 people, and is now set to expand into a second plant. In the grand scheme of things, 10 years is not a long time. So, going from $1.9 million in sales for 1997 to a projected $170 million for 2007 is remarkable.
What started out as an extrusion coating operation has become a 600,000-sq.-ft. facility with nine flexo presses, three offset presses, two adhesive laminators, four extruders, and a variety of rewinders and slitters. A constant for the company has been continual reinvestment, allowing it to build quality into all its products. “CEI has bought new, state-of-the-art equipment with the latest quality-control equipment,” says Michael Nowak, president/owner. “This allows CEI to engineer quality into its products and gives production employees the tools to make consistent high-quality products.”
Rapid-growth market leader
From its beginnings in 1997 with its first extruder, CEI has been a packaging company that specializes in extrusion coating and laminating, printing, and woven bags. According to Nowak, key markets for which CEI produces printed packaging materials include ream wrap, woven bags (for large packages such as dog food and bird seed), food packaging (sugar, gum, pouches), and overwraps (tissue products, insulation, and others).
One principle that has guided Nowak and co-founder William Arndt from the start is to buy new equipment that is built to fit customers’ requirements, rather than make customers’ requirements fit existing equipment and generalized processes.
Their philosophy has paid off. Today, CEI claims to be the largest North American supplier of ream wrap with a more than 50 percent market share; has more than 80 percent North American market share in frozen pizza labels and bubble envelope base; has a more than 50 percent share of the North American sugar packet business; and has a more than 80 percent North American market share of frozen pizza labels.
CEI is also a sole-source supplier to Weyerhaeuser, Georgia Pacific, Boise Cascade, and 3M for the products they supply to them.
Early in the game, Julie George and Lynda Swenson, both colleagues of Nowak and Arndt in the flexible packaging industry, sought to be part of the company. George and Swensons brought industry expertise, sales and marketing backgrounds, and customer-centric ideals to the table. When they joined CEI, they added 17 production employees, each with 15-20 years of converting industry experience. Today, Swenson is the company’s vice president of sales and marketing.
What started out as an extrusion coating operation has become a 600,000-sq.-ft. facility with nine flexo presses, three offset presses, two adhesive laminators, four extruders, and a variety of rewinders and slitters. A constant for the company has been continual reinvestment, allowing it to build quality into all its products. “CEI has bought new, state-of-the-art equipment with the latest quality-control equipment,” says Michael Nowak, president/owner. “This allows CEI to engineer quality into its products and gives production employees the tools to make consistent high-quality products.”
Rapid-growth market leader
From its beginnings in 1997 with its first extruder, CEI has been a packaging company that specializes in extrusion coating and laminating, printing, and woven bags. According to Nowak, key markets for which CEI produces printed packaging materials include ream wrap, woven bags (for large packages such as dog food and bird seed), food packaging (sugar, gum, pouches), and overwraps (tissue products, insulation, and others).
One principle that has guided Nowak and co-founder William Arndt from the start is to buy new equipment that is built to fit customers’ requirements, rather than make customers’ requirements fit existing equipment and generalized processes.
Their philosophy has paid off. Today, CEI claims to be the largest North American supplier of ream wrap with a more than 50 percent market share; has more than 80 percent North American market share in frozen pizza labels and bubble envelope base; has a more than 50 percent share of the North American sugar packet business; and has a more than 80 percent North American market share of frozen pizza labels.
CEI is also a sole-source supplier to Weyerhaeuser, Georgia Pacific, Boise Cascade, and 3M for the products they supply to them.
Early in the game, Julie George and Lynda Swenson, both colleagues of Nowak and Arndt in the flexible packaging industry, sought to be part of the company. George and Swensons brought industry expertise, sales and marketing backgrounds, and customer-centric ideals to the table. When they joined CEI, they added 17 production employees, each with 15-20 years of converting industry experience. Today, Swenson is the company’s vice president of sales and marketing.
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