Weatherchem Celebrates 40th Anniversary in Packaging Closures

Weatherchem's history ties back to a typical entrepreneurial moment - when someone sees a market opportunity and takes action to seize it. Albert J. Weatherhead saw such an opportunity in 1971 when he purchased Ankeny Co., a small tooling company. Since consumer products companies were moving rapidly to adopt plastic, rigid packaging containers, Weatherhead realized that Ankeny could make significant gains in the packaging industry by developing and manufacturing a value-added packaging product line, if it received the right attention and capital investment.

Forty years later, the company now known as Weatherchem is a global enterprise with 100 employees and a full range of innovative dispensing closures used in markets spanning from pet food to spices to household chemicals and candy. Today's Weatherchem is many times the size of that original single product offering, with customers throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Through its history, Weatherchem has shown that “great things come in great packages,” with a series of creative closure designs that enhance a products' consumer appeal and brand strength.

In some segments, Weatherchem's products are so dominant its market share approaches 60 percent. Weatherchem products are recognized throughout the industry and have received a wide variety of awards, such as “Best Package of the Year” (LiquiFlapper) from the Association for Liquids and Sauces in both 2010 and 2009 for its LiquiFlapper closure and the 2010 Ameristar Award from the Institute of Packaging Professionals, among others. The company itself has been honored on several occasions as one of the region's best places to work as a “Northcoast 99” award winner, and was chosen a winner of The Smart Business eVolution of Manufacturing Award for its production practices.

Product innovation has been a hallmark of the company throughout its 40 years:

•1983 - introduced Flapper® cap dispensing closure
•1996 - developed the Agricap
•1999 - launched NutraFlapper® closure for fast-growing nutraceuticals market
•2003 - introduced the industry's first 53-400mm large size dispensing closure
•2006 - created the Grinder NR Packaging System for spice containers as an FPA Safe Compliant product
•2007 - brought to market the FlapMate®, NutraGen II® and LiquiFlapper® closures