Lansing-based KTM Technologies is working with Burton-based Landaal Packaging Systems to develop new markets for corrugated boxes and biodegradable inserts that will reduce landfill pile up.
According to excerpts from the article:
“We’ve been a traditional auto-centered organization and we are now shaping our future for the next 50 years,’’ said President Steve Landaal.
Landaal, in partnership with Lansing-based KTM Technologies, the developer of a cornstarch-based Styrofoam substitute called Green Cells, is pushing to open new markets for corrugated boxes and biodegradable inserts that will decompose in, rather than fill up, landfills.The earth-friendly containers are expected to be attractive to pharmaceutical and chemical industries, in particular, that seek government approvals.
Landaal, which does $25 million in sales annually, is one of 10 fabricators of the Green Cell foam invented by KTM and is the largest fabricator of it in the Midwest, putting it at the heart of the ecological movement in the industry. It’s a far cry from where Landaal was two years when its relationship with its biggest customer, GM Auto Parts, took a hard turn costing $9 million in sales over 16 months.
Starting in 2007, a new national GM-UAW labor contract required GM to find new work for former Delphi Automotive employees. GM’s solution was to create packaging jobs that it once outsourced to Landaal. The hit to Landaal was palpable.
Read the entire article here.
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