Yellowstone Plastics expands Idaho facility

Yellowstone Plastics, a flexographic packaging producer and a member of the Volm Companies family, has expanded its production facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to facilitate the company’s growth and optimization of its workflows.

Yellowstone Plastics was formed to fill a void within the flexible packaging industry for providing packaging to the produce industry on a quick turn basis

Started in 1998 on open ground in Idaho Falls, Yellowstone Plastics was formed to fill a void within the flexible packaging industry for providing packaging to the produce industry on a quick turn basis. The firm has grown from a single bag machine to an 80,000 sq ft facility that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

It operates six flexo presses, solvent-less laminating equipment and myriad of converting machinery. This printing, converting and laminating equipment can accommodate projects of all sizes. The facility has five wide web flexo CI presses up to a 67in web width and up to 10 colors, with special options available for packaging exceeding a 67in web width. Solvent-based inks are used, as well as fade and weather-resistant inks for outdoor applications. Substrates include monolayer and co-ex polyethylene, polyester, nylon and polypropylene.

Its most recent investment has been in a 10-color KBA-Flexotecnica Evo XG CI flexo press, as reported here, which is to be installed and commissioned at the expanded production facility.

‘We could have fit the new Evo XG press in our current structure but we decided to use this installation to invest in our Idaho Falls facility and increase our print throughput,’ commented Daniel Mueller, president and CEO of Volm Companies. ‘We added 20,000 sq ft of space to the current building for the new press as well as an expansion of our ink department. It also provided us with the opportunity to fine-tune our workflow. We’ll be hiring more press operators and investing in a larger oxidizer for the six presses.’