Company Overview

Had a candy bar lately? Sliced open the plastic shrink-wrap covering a chunk of cheese? Bemis Company is a major supplier of flexible packaging and pressure-sensitive materials. In addition to food companies, major markets for the company’s products include the health care, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, agribusiness, and printing and graphic arts industries. Technology innovation and new product development are key corporate strategies. As the company’s technologies have grown more complex, Bemis has continued to penetrate new markets, pioneering innovations in barrier films, package construction, pressure-sensitive materials, and packaging machinery. Technical strengths include polymer chemistry, film extrusion, coating and laminating, printing and converting, and pressure-sensitive adhesive technology. Bemis operates in more than 62 locations in 11 countries. Through recent acquisitions, the company has seen substantial sales growth. The largest was the 2002 acquisition of Walki Films for about $70 million, a move that added more than $100 million in yearly European sales. In early 2005 the company bought a majority stake in Brazil-based Dixie Toga, one of the country’s largest packaging companies. It’s been reported that Bemis intends to restructure and consolidate manufacturing operations.