A well established Toronto packaging company will start production in the next few weeks at the former Kraft plant in Cobourg.
Today’s Northumberland was given an exclusive tour of the Beneco Custom Print Packaging on Wednesday, July 13, 2022.
President YaJun (Carol) Jiang, and Vice President of Operations and Process Improvements, Roy Amm showed the installation process of machinery and large rolls of paper in the building.
Beneco Custom Print Packaging is one of the leading packaging firms in North America. It’s subsidiary company, SoOPAK, is a smaller run custom packaging firm where orders consist up to 5,000.
Jiang first started the company in 2004 with two employees in a 6,000 square foot facility where the company earning $20,000 a month. Jiang has grown the company into a multi-million dollar business with 150 employees in three locations including Mississauga, Scarborough and now Cobourg.
“It’s a classic case of small beginnings and pushing on to where we are today,” said Amm.
In 2015, Jiang was ranked one of Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneurs by Profit/Chatelaine.
The company has also won the 2018 Best Custom Medical Product Packaging Award from Global Health & Pharma (GHP)—and has obtained the 2021 GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) food safety certification to grow its client base in the food industry.
Beneco Custom Print Packaging purchased the 60-acre property between William and Ontario Streets in Cobourg in mid-May.
And the company has been working non-stop bringing in and setting up state-of-the-art equipment for production that is expected to start during the first week of August. Full production is expected by the middle of August.
Amm said in simple terms, the paper is run into a machine where it’s cut to a specific length.
After, paper is sent into a machine where they are cut to a specific design for the packaging and completed with packaging details and sent off to the customer.
“It’s a very simple principle.”
Amm proudly says the company is in the top five manufacturers in central Canada, but when the Cobourg plant is fully operational, they will be the second largest in terms of square feet and capacity.
SoOPAK takes on the low volume packaging orders, while Beneco handles multi-million orders.
“Start up businesses that want small quantities to get going, we will help them with that. And hopefully as they grow, our market grows and we will switch them from SoOPAK business to Beneco.
“We will touch anything.”
The plan for production is to begin the first week of August and will require 25 employees.
Another 25 employees will be required when the next shift starts working approximately six to eight weeks later.
“During the course of next year, we’ll add additional equipment which will probably take us again, another 25 required, so to 75 by the middle of next year and 100 by the end of next year.
The plan is to bring in existing staff from other plants to train new employees in Cobourg.
“We’re hoping to find people from outside the industry who want to come in to the this industry and we can train them.”
A number of people have already applied and the company will be hiring in the next few weeks.
The Cobourg company is still looking for fill more spots if people are looking for work.
When COVID hit around the world it actually benefited companies like Beneco.
Like everyone else, Amm said the industry was “nervous” at the beginning of COVID, “but we realized very soon that when customers were not able to go to restaurants and eat, there was a demand for take-out packaging.”
“The entire industry had to absorb that additional load. Basically if you weren’t eating at a restaurant, you were buying it at a restaurant and taking it away, or you’re going to super markets and buying the products.”
“Many products come in a folding carton. So the demand lifted and we haven’t seen that drop.”
Even with restaurants back open, Amm said the demand has remained steady.
Both Jiang and Amm’s are proud to say the company didn’t shut down production at any point during COVID.
Amm said Cobourg is a “ideal location” for the next phase of the company.
“The GTA is saturated. Property values are ridiculous. If you wanted to find facility this size. You’d need to win the lottery and a big lottery too. We were able to find this at a reasonable price.”
Geographically, Amm said the Cobourg location is close to large centres the company deals with.
The support industries that are associated with packaging are close by including, dye making, ink suppliers, pallet making to name a few.
The plant is large enough for what they need now, but with the existing property suits them in the future for expansion.
“Cobourg, we believe is the growth area for this company.”
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
