Printpack is a privately-held manufacturer of flexible and rigid packaging for the nation’s food supply running the gamut from fresh produce to frozen foods, salty snacks to snack bars, bread, baby food, meat, and poultry, medical packaging, and everything in between. Printpack is a Critical Infrastructure Industry business, and our essential associates have displayed an uncompromising and unselfish dedication to maintaining a safe work environment while keeping the nation’s food chain supplied.
One of Printpack’s founding principles is that our people are our greatest asset. Therefore, our number one task has been keeping our associates safe and making sure our plants continue to keep up with demand. Early on, our company formed a task force to keep up to date on health recommendations from the CDC and other government entities. We implemented social distancing and additional cleaning procedures to make sure our associates, as well as our products, were safe. Should there be a suspected case of COVID-19 in a plant, the area where the affected associate worked is thoroughly sanitized, and the associate’s movements through the plant are traced in order to identify any co-worker who could potentially be impacted. These procedures are continuously monitored and updated as necessary when guidance from the CDC and other health authorities is updated.
Another founding principle of the company is giving back to the communities in which Printpack associates live and work. Printpack associates have done some extraordinary things during these uncertain times to help fellow associates as well as their local counties. When hand sanitizer became difficult to source, Printpack dedicated some of its facilities to manufacture its own. The product was manufactured to FDA standards and distributed throughout the company to make sure all associates had access.
Some associates produced face masks to supply several of Printpack’s manufacturing facilities and others have been printing face shields for healthcare workers utilizing personal 3D printers and materials donated by their plant. Printpack has also donated PET material to a local facility that is using it on their equipment to manufacture face shields. Some of Printpack’s maintenance associates created and manufactured intubation hoods for a local hospital. These plastic covers create a safer barrier between doctors and nurses who need to ventilate seriously ill patients.
Printpack also has associates supporting the effort to combat this disease through the National Guard.
Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Jamie Clark had nothing but praise for the way our associates have risen to the occasion, “But through those challenges, the strength of our character and depth of humanity of our associates has continued to show – our resounding resilience, sometimes silent, yet fully evident to all. We cannot extend enough gratitude to all of our front-line plant associates. They carry on, with a can-do spirit, keeping our customers supplied with packaging for the country’s food, paper products, and medical needs.”
