Pierre Déry, general manager of CCL Label Montreal recently hosted the official opening of the company’s new facilities, following more than six months’ work to expand the existing plant, which had become too small to keep pace with the its sales growth. Geoffrey Martin, president and CEO of CCL Industries, attended the ceremony, which took place in conjunction with the exhibition Pharmaceutical Printing, The Human Factor, a one-of-a-kind event dedicated to pharmaceutical printing and packaging.

CCL Label Montreal is the only printing firm in Quebec entirely dedicated to the pharmaceutical industry. In 2013 it invested close to $5 million to add 20,000 square feet to its Saint-Bruno facility and bring it up to state-of-the-art standards, including new flexographic printing equipment.

“In the past five years, we’ve seen growth of approximately 75%, and our workforce has expanded from 75 employees in 2008 to more than 140 today,” Déry said, adding,  “This outstanding progress is the result of a constant quest for quality aimed at improving our response to clients’ requirements.” This latest investment will eventually lead to the hiring of some 20 new employees.

Printing and packaging for the pharmaceutical industry require specific expertise, not the least of which is the need for rigorously accurate presentation of information so as not to endanger end users’ lives. “For the past nine years, we’ve invested several tens of millions of dollars in support of our Quebec operations,” Martin explained. “Our employees are trained to the strictest industry standards, and our processes are internationally renowned. This is what differentiates us from the competition and enables us to continually grow our market.”

More than 400 people turned out for the trade exhibition Pharmaceutical Printing, The Human Factor. In collaboration with some 40 suppliers, CCL Label Montreal devoted resources to put together this exhibition and organize tours of its printing facility. With its emphasis on the primary reason for the company’s success – the human factor – the exhibition allows attendees to familiarize themselves with every facet of the industry.