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BluePrint Has Packaging Solutions "In the Bag"



Manufacturing Today
January/February 2003

BluePrint Automation's products take control of packages - from salty snacks to pharmaceuticals - as soon as they leave the form, fill and seal part of production. The company's packaging systems take these types of products all the way through palletizing. BluePrint was founded in 1980 to provide automatic case packers for flexible bags. The company has grown quickly to a multi-national packaging automation company with full-service manufacturing facilities in Colonial Heights, Va., and the Netherlands. The company supplies fully integrated, turnkey systems for applications that involve the loading of flexible bags and hard-to-handle packages into secondary containers, such as cases, trays, cartons, crates and masterbags. What differentiates BluePrint is that it focuses on placing flexible packages into secondary packaging. "We focus on bags because they are tough to handle - they behave differently than cans or bottles and other fixed shapes," says Martin Prakken, CEO. "Companies such as Kraft that want to automate their end-of-line process go to BluePrint." Prakken says BluePrint's customers are 50 percent large food conglomerates such as Nestle, M&M, Frito Lay, and 50 percent smaller, local companies. "As the number of SKUs goes up, customers need more adaptable platforms, and ours are more adaptable than our competitors’," he says. "Our customers expect us to automate the process, replace the labor, provide highly efficient solutions, and that we're always up and running - there is no downtime. That means 99 percent of the time that equipment is producing, we make sure if there is supposed to be 60 bags in a corrugated box, there isn't 61 or 59. They expect equipment that won't break down or need a substantial amount of maintenance." He adds that to maintain this level of quality, customers must have access to trained service people worldwide.

In addition to training service employees, BluePrint Automation offers on-the-job training and mentoring of manufacturing employees. "The best way people learn is to be brought in to work with others," Prakken says. "They work with the very people who program our equipment and are responsible for electronics and controls. We also send employees to courses provided by suppliers."

Quality stems not only from training employees, but also from dialogue with the people whose opinion counts most - the customers. "The way we maintain and improve quality is simple - we do a survey with our customers," he says. "Every installation comes with a one-page evaluation covering ease of installation, uptime, maintainability, performance and overall satisfaction. We also ask if our customers would use us again and recommend us to others."

Perhaps what's most significant about the survey is a bonus system related to the answers. Prakken says BluePrint offers each employee a payout when the customer is satisfied. "I'm proud of tying in customer satisfaction with the employee bonus system - no one that I know of in the packaging industry does this," he says. "We're putting dollars where our mouth is and we have the whole company focused on pleasing our customers."

New packaging solutions stem from BluePrint's fully staffed European and U.S. R&D facilities that are dedicated to pure research, product testing, and new product development. "We have core people whose sole focus is on the development of new solutions," Prakken says.

One market trend BluePrint's R&D answered to was the growth of the "stand-up pouch" made famous by Capri Sun as an alternative to juice boxes.

"These pouches have a wedge-shape, and the most effective way to package them is to lay them flat and interweave them," Prakken explains. There is equipment that does one or the other, but not both. We responded to that void and have been successful in doing both standing and laying down in a secondary container."

That's not the only innovation BluePrint has brought to market. Prakken says his vision is to come up with even more flexible packaging solutions in the future. "Packaging is getting more complex - the days of simple packing formats are over," he stresses. "We're going to have to come up with innovative ways to maintain the orientation of the pouch when it's shipped from one side of the plant to the other. We're going to find ways to do all different specialty packs on the line." RM
DANAHER MOTION
Blueprint Automation partnered with Danaher Motion to provide increased performance and output on the new Smart Trak conveyor for high-speed packaging systems. The solution included a high performance Micron DuraTRUEtm gearhead linked to a servo motor that allowed for a higher torque/speed ratio to increase output. With this new system, Blueprint Automation was able to increase performance and output by 33 percent, making it one of the fastest conveyors on the market today

CURBELL PLASTICS
Curbell Plastics sees its relationship with Blueprint Automation as one that is constantly evolving. Blueprint Automation's forward -thinking philosophy allows Curbell to research and introduce the latest technology and materials available in the plastics industry. Through its value-added service initiatives, Curbell actively pursues cost savings options with Blueprint. This partnership allows Curbell to be an effective supplier to Blueprint Automation, and ultimately, reduces its material costs. For more information, contact Mike Grube at 888-CURBELL.