Shepherd Thermoforming plans move to new facility, takes new marketing approach

To ensure its ability to accommodate new business and grow its operations, Shepherd Thermoforming & Packaging Inc., has purchased a new 40,000 square foot (sq. ft.) facility in Brampton, Ont.
Starting October 2006, Shepherd will move all its manufacturing and administrative operations to new site located in Brampton’s east end.
“The move was made necessary as a result of the lack of power and space in our present location at Clarence St. in Brampton. We grew from 6,000 square feet to 36,000 square feet over the 13 years at our leased facility,” said company President, Barry Shepherd. “The new facility will be laid out to be more efficient and in keeping with our present mix of design, tool making, heavy and thin gauge thermoforming.”
Shepherd’s tool and design capabilities will heavily influence the layout of the new facility to give the technical staff room to grow, he added.
“In today’s competitive world we recognize that to grow and prosper we must be innovative,” he said. “We must continue to train our staff and hire skilled personnel to be able to offer our customers the creativity they need.
Even though Shepherd’s business is split half-and-half between sheet-fed and roll-fed production, the sheet-fed portion of theoperations will take up the lion’s share of the shop floor. That’s because heavy gauge products require more space for multiple operations and assembly, Shepherd noted.
And because Shepherd’s customer base has shifted so drastically in the past five years, the company is also retooling its marketing strategy to better reflect its current clients.
“Many of our retail packaging customers have moved their manufacturing off-shore along with their purchases of clamshells and blisters,” Shepherd said. “We have seen a big swing in our sales toward ‘returnable and ‘singletrip’ automation pallets and trays as well as to OEM parts. Our special products such as our detergent scoops have shown resurgence of late and new resins are coming along to open up new opportunities also.”
Shepherd’s new marketing strategy involves highlighting the four main markets it serves, which include retail packaging, materials handling, OEM parts and specialty products.