Canadian Plastics

Nexe Innovations nears start-up of Windsor, Ontario production site

Canadian Plastics   

Canadian Plastics

The 54,000-square-foot facility will support vertically integrated manufacturing of Nexe's compostable single-serve coffee pods.

Installed component manufacturing equipment at Nexe’s Windsor facility. Photo Credit: Nexe Innovations Inc.

Nexe Innovations Inc., a Vancouver-based developer of plant-based materials science, says it’s getting ready to start production of its fully compostable single-serve coffee pods at its new facility in Windsor, Ontario.

Nexe first developed its Nexe pods, which are compatible with Keurig single-serve brewing systems, in 2021. The pods are made from completely plant-based materials and break down in as few as 35 days in a municipal composting facility.

In January 2022, Nexe purchased the 54,000-square-foot facility to support the development of a vertically integrated manufacturing operation. “With a focus on de-risking the supply chain and improving our margins, we continue to work with world class vendors and integrators to develop processes for our highly customized equipment to manufacture key components in-house,” Nexe officials said in a Dec. 15 statement. “Once complete, we expect to control our manufacturing process end to end.”

Nexe officials identified several advantages of transitioning to a vertically integrated operation and onshoring, including limited supply chain risks, protecting IP, higher operating margins, and lowering the carbon footprint. “One key advantage has been to accelerate the R&D process in-house, which has led to additional enhancements to our compostable materials, resulting in the Nexe pod composting in as little as 17 days, down from 35 days in an industrial composting facility,” the statement said.

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Nexe expects to be in production in the Windsor plant in early 2023, with both component and finished goods manufacturing. The company has hired Chris Murray, whom it calls “an experienced senior sales leader” with more than 20 years of experience in the coffee and consumer packaged goods industry in Canada and the U.S. Nexe also says it’s currently in active discussions with various potential customers. “A key part of our sales strategy is to target private label and co-manufacturing segments of the market to reliably fill our production capacity as it comes online,” the statement said. “By the end of 2024, we expect…to have a total production capacity of ~500 million units per year for the coffee segment.”

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