Golden Eagle rides flexpack growth

Golden Eagle Extrusions has installed four slitter rewinders from Ashe Converting Equipment over 13 years, as it experiences strong growth driven by increasing demand for flexible packaging in food applications.

The Cincinnati, Ohio-based converter produces custom film laminations, coextruded films and bags, and specialty lidding films, with food packaging accounting for nearly 90 percent of its business. The company installed two Onyx slitters from Ashe in 2013 and 2016, followed by two Diamond slitters in 2019 and 2022.

'We did a great deal of research on slitters and went to a lot of trade shows. Ashe was the outstanding candidate. Service is key, particularly when dealing with a foreign company, but Ashe's US subsidiary could supply parts and technical support,' said Chad Weikert, CEO of Golden Eagle Extrusions. 'We wanted to have machines with longevity, and this was a key point about Ashe's equipment. They also offer a great deal of customization: you can design what you want in the machine.'

Founded in 1978 by Paul Eagle, the company initially operated from a basement creating formulations for food protection and producing films for fresh-cut produce. It expanded into laminating and converting around 16 years ago, installing a 60in Nordmeccanica Super Simplex SL in 2010 and a second in 2020.

'The move from rigid packaging to flexible packaging, such as stand-up pouches, has been a huge market trend in recent years. They offer better preservation for your product, take up less space and are lighter,' noted Weikert.

The company's fastest-growing sector is specialty lidding films. Golden Eagle developed universal seal lidding films that can adhere to all types of trays and cups regardless of substrate, available in clear, white, metalized, foil and retortable forms with customized peelability levels.

'Our lidding production is growing every year. It hasn't overtaken the coextruded side yet, but it's our fastest-growing sector,' stated Weikert.

Matthew Godbold, sales director for wide web machinery at Ashe Converting Equipment, commented: 'Golden Eagle is a key customer of ours. They produce high-quality products and it's a privilege to do business with them. We have a large number of installations in the US across all our machine ranges.'

The converter is SQF certified and scored 100 percent in an unannounced audit earlier this year. Weikert identified laser-perforation technology as a potential next area of investment to replace micro-perforation equipment, adding: 'We would 100 percent buy another Ashe machine.'