“We add more value to packaging,” Matthew Kerrigan summarized. Alpha Poly has transitioned into its new printing division in recent years, growing its custom printing and lamination service. Alpha Poly has grown from its original focus on commodity-based products to now offer high-end, custom printed products.
“If you walk into a grocery store and look at all the packaging, in the produce section or the bakery, you will see several of our products,” Matthew Kerrigan, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing with Alpha Poly, told The Canadian Business Journal.
In business for more than 20 years, Alpha Poly offers process-printed packaging solutions as well as a variety of film choices. Alpha Poly’s product offering includes printed roll stock, stock printed bags, zipper (reclosable) bags, boutique bags, lawn and garden bags, and more. The technology at Alpha Poly allows the company to offers a wide range of custom solutions, including prepress, printing, rollstock, and lamination. Such a product range highlights its focus on customer satisfaction.
A company known for quality products, competitive pricing, and value-added services, Alpha Poly offers technical expertise and a robust quality assurance program that provides the best in products.
Alpha Poly is committed to reducing its carbon footprint one step at a time. The product offering of Alpha Poly promotes environmental sustainability. Alpha Poly products are sustainable, compostable, or biodegradable – in fact, 94 per cent of the waste it produces is diverted from landfills.
Cultural Change
What is also evident at Alpha Poly is the culture – a focus on continuous improvement has the company always pushing the limit. The result is a 30 per cent decrease in labour costs and a 70 per cent increase in output. In place since 2009, that change hasn’t stopped and Alpha Poly continues to seek new methods to increase its output.
The philosophy at Alpha Poly is to reinvest in itself, ensuring state-of-the-art equipment and technology, improved productivity, and lean manufacturing. These efforts have been implemented across the business of Alpha Poly, the benefit being that this has allowed the company to remain competitive despite external pressure from both importers and rival domestic manufacturers.
“We have tried to change our whole company’s culture to a continuous improvement mindset. What also helps separate us from our competition, and something we are quite proud of, is the fact that we became Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certified in the last year,” said Patrick Kerrigan, Vice-President of Manufacturing and Distribution with Alpha Poly. “It is something some of our larger customers require and like to see from their suppliers.”
Continued Growth
Looking toward the future, Alpha Poly focuses on custom printed business including rollstock and lamination.
“We are also adding capacity with new equipment in both our printing and converting departments.”
Being a medium-sized company, Alpha Poly works with similarly sized clients, pursuing these jobs while others in the industry focus on large clients. The difference is that Alpha Poly continues to pursue more markets, like the United States, to further its edge in the market. Already coast to coast in Canada, and with a few clients in the United States, further expansion into the American market is next.
Its diverse product lineup also allowed Alpha Poly to avoid the difficulties of the recent economic recession. During this time, if one segment of the business slowed, another service had an increased response. It is this level of diversification that is key to market growth for Alpha Poly.
