GO WEST: Eyeing expansion, Quebec’s Polykar installs high-efficiency bag-converting system

Saint-Laurent, Que.-based Polykar is a bit of a rare bird: the garbage bag, food packaging and polyethylene film maker sells exclusively in Canada through a network of distributors.

But Canada is a big place, which leaves plenty of room for growth – and to that end the family-owned company recently installed a new 1400DBS clamp-stacking, bottomseal bag converting system from Appleton, Wis.-based equipment manufacturer CMD Corporation. The system, which accepts web widths up to 54 inches, features  integrated slit-sealing and gusseting, and can run up to eight lanes at 140 cycles, producing 1,000 bags per minute to manufacture bulk packaging products like bread bags, freezer bags, and trash bags. It is designed to make multiple product designs and sizes, and can handle frequent job changes efficiently.

“We had several choices for a bottom-seal bag making system,” said Amir Karim, Polykar’s vice president of business development. “We chose CMD because it allows a greater versatility in the type of bags we make – especially varying thicknesses and sizes – at a faster speed, which helps lower the unit cost.” Installation of the system and training of the company’s 60 employees took one week, he added.

Polykar also has a CMD 5213ED extended-dwell rotary bag machine and a CMD 1113 coreless bag winder, purchased in April 2011. The system runs up to 600 feet per minute and is used to produce Polykar’s high-density star seal trash bags.

Polykar – which was founded in 1987 – has annual capacity of 25 million pounds along with recycling services, with average monthly production of 25 million bags and 120,000 cases. The company’s 240,000-square-foot site includes a new production facility, which will be LEED certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). The company is the first plastic bag manufacturer in Canada to have both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001certifications, and manufactures products from polyethylene and biodegradable, oxodegradable and recycled resins. According to Karim, the 1400DBS system is part of the Polykar’s current push to penetrate the Canadian market west of Quebec. “The machine gives us the added production capacity and versatility needed to offer products further into Ontario and into western Canada,” he said.