www.tradepak.net
www.tradepak.net

Tradepak Inc. is an integrated flexible packaging converter based in Miami, FL. It provides innovative flexible packaging solutions for the food, medical, and household product sectors. The North American company has a bilingual sales force and permanent commercial representation in different geographic locations in the Western Hemisphere. Tradepak has customers across the US and in Mexico, Venezuela, the Caribbean Islands, Costa Rica and Panama.

With commercial offices and a production plant in Miami, the dispersed sales force focuses on consulting with its wholesale customers to assist them with product creation, integration, logistics, and packaging design.

Tradepak is known for its quality and speed in helping customers operate within the supply chain. As a trusted and knowledgeable provider, its mission is to smoothly and reliably meet the ongoing needs of customers’ logistics programs.

Says Tradepak Inc. president Rafael Recao, “Our customers have complex needs. Defining goals and finding solutions through personal consultation and direct service works best. Many of our customers must follow rigorous industry requirements. They are focusing on packaging integrity, safety, and distribution while also researching and developing new products to serve their markets. Timely turnaround is part of that equation.”

It’s a formula that has worked since 2003, when the company was founded. Clients include big corporations, as well as small businesses. Products include polypropylene and polyester bags, vacuum and stand-up pouches, shrink bags, thermoforming rolls, and laminated films.

Services include 6- and 8-color flexographic printing, solvent-less lamination, slitting, and sealing. It’s a range of offerings in contrast to the company’s modest start. In 2003, Tradepak began with one piece of equipment, a three-side sealer machine for making vacuum bags.

Since then, the timeline for equipment acquisition has shown steady growth and discipline. A slitter and a second sealing machine were added in 2006. By 2010 the company acquired its first flexographic press, a Bielloni 6-color. With the addition of printing to its offerings, the company grew. In 2015, another slitter, a polybag seal machine, and – one year later – a shrink seal bag machine.

With the production pieces in place, in 2018 Recao was appointed president to begin the modernization and sales growth of the company. He has more than 28 years of experience in industrial production and the flexible packaging sector. That year, a Nordmeccanica laminator and a third sealing stand-up machine were acquired.

The culmination came in 2021 when the company acquired its second flexographic Comexi – an 8-color press – and next-generation Comexi slitter.

Says Recao, “Our current production array covers the most modern approach to flexible packaging. We now can produce from the simplest to the most complicated.”

Tradepak’s products include bags and rolls of medium and high barrier foil, bilaminates, trilaminate, stand up, zipper, micro-perforation, and more. Typical materials and substrates are nylon, PET, BOPP, CPP, poly, COEX, MET PET, MET BOPP, foil, white BOPP, and white PET.

Tradepak also offers design services and concepts, especially helpful to customers in a fast-turnaround environment.

Despite its growth, Tradepak has kept its total number of employees to 14, with two shifts. Sales are handled through in-house reps as well as brokers. The company also gains new customers through the internet and recommendations from other customers.

The total square footage of the plant and offices – which the company owns – is 30,000 square feet, of which 18,000 square feet is for the production area. Medium and long runs are ideal for the makeup of the crew and the equipment lineup.

“Operational efficiency and employee training are important to us,” says Recao. “Between our experienced team and the strategic equipment choices we have made over the years, we can achieve quick turnarounds with superb quality. I think companies with twice the workforce would be challenged to accomplish what we can produce on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. It starts and ends with a tight focus on the customer and investment in understanding and meeting their needs.”

Tradepak’s customers return that investment with their loyalty. “Some of our clients we have had for 18 years,” notes Recao. “There is a saying that you can’t have all three – quality, service, and delivery time. Ask our customers. We are known for all of them, which has contributed to our steady success.”

Tradepak is a member of the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) and South Florida Manufacturers Association, as well. “We work very closely with our manufacturers and suppliers, and have an excellent and lasting relationship with all of them,” says Recao. “The company works with Comexi, CAI inks, 3M, and AVT. “We rely on our industry research and the input of our customers and vendors to foresee where the industry is headed and where we should be investing and growing.”

Recao says recyclable and compostable materials are currently on the radar of customers. Those are areas where the Tradepak team educates customers and helps them make improvements.

Supply chain management is another area where extra work is being done to help customers. Recao says the current environment has been challenging with shortages and extended delivery times on raw materials.

“We are doing what we can to help customers through this period through close planning and prioritizing,” he explains. “They appreciate our knowledge of what’s realistic, and our solid relationships with our own suppliers to work through these issues together.”

As for what’s next, Tradepak is in the process of becoming certified through the worldwide Safe Quality Food (SQF) Program. SQF defines itself as a “rigorous and credible food safety and quality program recognized by retailers, brand owners, and food service providers. [Its] food and quality codes are designed to meet industry, customer, and regulatory requirements for all sectors of the food supply chain – from the farm all the way to the retail stores.”

Achieving SQF certification is just one part of the TradePak’s commitment to quality control and production processes that must meet customers’ needs across its vast coverage area.

“Global standards, integrated packaging programs, and recognized labeling practices will become the norm,” says Recao. “We are proud to be leading the way for our customers who represent many nations. Success for our customers is success for us.”