ProAmpac breaks ground on expanded facility

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ProAmpac, a flexible packaging manufacturer, has broken ground on construction of its Rochester Collaboration & Innovation Center, an $8 million, 25,000-square-foot expansion of an existing facility on Manitou Road in Ogden.

The center is slated to open in spring 2021.

The innovation center will focus on packaging development and design and also will host regional and global consumer packaged goods companies and vendors for events and training. ProAmpac had considered building the innovation center out of state but chose to expand at its current location with support from New York state. As a result of the expansion, the company has committed to hiring up to 40 new employees.

“Innovation is the key factor in making flexible packaging the fastest-growing segment of the expanding global packaging industry, which is forecast to exceed $1 trillion by the end of next year,” said ProAmpac CEO Greg Tucker. “The benefit of having all of our application testing, prototyping and short run pouch production under one roof is that a customer can arrive with a packaging design issue and leave with printed, prototype samples. Our new facility will compress the design timeline significantly.”

Through Collaborative Innovation — a unique process for accelerating the development of new packaging — ProAmpac pairs its own product-development teams with a customer’s group, and then builds prototypes at its Design and Sample Lab (DASL). DASL will be headquartered in the new CIC, said Chief Commercial Officer Adam Grose.

“ProAmpac has become recognized as the go-to source for sustainable packaging solutions,” Grose said.

As many consumer products brand owners make sustainability a top priority, ProAmpac has become “their top resource for sustainable flexible packaging,” Grose said.

“ProAmpac’s continued commitment to expanding its operations in Monroe County will serve to boost the local manufacturing sector, provide jobs and strengthen the regional economy by helping to create a more sustainable community for generations to come,” said Empire State Development Acting Commissioner and President and CEO-designate Eric Gertler.

The expanded facility will become the permanent home for LEAD ProAmpac Academy, offering customers and employees twice-a-year training in extrusion, lamination, printing, sustainability, and other flexible-packaging technologies.

“We’re delighted ProAmpac, a leading manufacturer of flexible packaging, chose to establish an innovation center in the Greater Rochester New York region, leveraging our community’s extensive packaging expertise and world-class R&D resources,” said Greater Rochester Enterprise Inc. President and CEO Matt Hurlbut.

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