5.0. EDSR 06-14-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Success was right in their own backyard HOME TOWN ENTREPRENEURS FOUND THE IDEAL SITE IN ELK RIVER When Bob Jones was looking for a larger facility for the growing packaging business he and his wife had founded,he considered existing buildings and greenfield sites as far away as Hudson,Wis. Ironically,however,the ideal site turned out to be right in his own backyard. The Elk River entrepreneur ended up building a spanking new, $12 million light manufacturing plant in the growing west side of his own home town. "My wife and I live in Elk River,"Mr.Jones expX� „ • _ e IA tens to add that the community offers 'm'�' , 4t th. m•i Ri„s advantages,he insists, much more than just a short commute.Elk River��.�.� 1� � o �. an appealing lifestyle and including a convenient location for national distribution,a a • i j r r , pP g i g city officials who are committed to economic development. Today, SoftPac Industries Inc. does private label blending and packaging for major national clients including Target Corp. and SuperValu Inc., and is one of the nation's largest manufacturers of stand-up pouches.The Elk River plant boasts two of the fastest juice pouch production lines in the world,with plans for a third, and the firm expects to produce more than 100 million juice pouches this year. Needs changed as firm evolved • The SoftPac story began in 1992,when Mr.Jones and his wife,Patricia,founded a firm that was then known as Advanced Nutritionals Corp. (ANC).Their vision was to produce and market a line of sports drinks. By the mid-1990s,however,the Joneses recognized that the bigger business opportunity was in the packaging it had developed for the drinks rather than the beverages they contained. ANC was becoming a leader in the emerging specialty of flexible pouch packaging,which had been pioneered in the early 1980s by Kraft Inc. with its Capri Sun juice brand. In early 2000,investor and now majority owner and Chairman David Koch repositioned the firm,making packaging its primary business.Mr. Koh,is airman Emeritus of Graco Inc., a Minneapolis-based manufacturer of systems and equipmes 4 •,# t , vf` e,dispense,control and apply fluid materials. � 1.1 . 3 ir The revamped firm acquired the rights to use advanced technology developed by German-based Hensen Packaging Concepts GmbH that allows for the continuous filling of stand-up pouches nearly three faster than before. As the business transformation was taking place,the firm began making plans to relocate its manufacturing operations from a small,leased space in Maple Grove. To find a facility that could accommodate the new high-speed,fully integrated,fully automated stand-up juice pouch production lines,the firm hired commercial real estate broker Scott Kummel,who had experience with food distribution facilities.Mr.Kummel,who is now with Northstar Partners, a member i of the Cushman&Wakefield Alliance,also had an existing relationship with design-build firm Opus Northwest LLC.