ClimaCell is a thermal insulating packaging liner manufactured and sold by Henrico-based TemperPack Technologies. (Photos courtesy of TemperPack Technologies)
Henrico-based packaging company TemperPack Technologies has a new top boss at the helm as it steers parts of its production methods into new territory.
Veteran energy industry executive Peter Wells took over as the firm’s CEO last month, becoming its second chief executive in as many years.
Wells replaces Bob Beckler, who was TemperPack’s CEO from mid-2021 to this past January. Wells comes aboard as the company expands its offerings beyond its original flagship ClimaCell product, an insulating packaging liner that the company markets as an environmentally friendly alternative to Styrofoam.
Its new initiative, dubbed WaveKraft, is a packaging-manufacturing machine placed on the warehouse floors of TemperPack clients that allows them to produce insulation-panel packaging in-house.
TemperPack launched the first wave of the new units this year, leasing them to customers who use paper purchased from TemperPack to make WaveKraft insulation panels.
TemperPack pitches WaveKraft as a way for customers to save space at their distribution centers, because the panels can be made on demand. It also gives TemperPack a means to reach customers in a way that avoids the costs associated with shipping already-made products.
The WaveKraft machine, a TemperPack product that manufactures packaging insulation liners.
The company’s entire inventory of WaveKraft units is already spoken for.
“All ten of our first-generation machines are in deployment on long-term, committed leases,” TemperPack spokesman Jed Dutton said in an email.
TemperPack declined to comment on the cost to build a WaveKraft unit. It also declined to share what kind of investment went into its 340,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at 4447 Carolina Ave., where it makes the units.
“To stand up WaveKraft, we’ve adapted 20,000 square feet at our Carolina (Avenue) facility and invested in R&D, production and talent. We’re excited to have brought on board a whole new capability: machine design and production,” Dutton said.
Wells, who was most recently CEO of Smart Wires, a North Carolina-based electrical power analytics firm, said the WaveKraft line opens the door to the company building a bigger international presence beyond its existing operations in North America and in Europe.
“We do have potential opportunities for WaveKraft in the Asia-Pacific region,” Wells said. “We’re closing in and securing a deal there which would be small scale but would mean we have that opportunity up and running next year.”
The introduction of Wells to the company’s leadership and the rollout of WaveKraft follow TemperPack’s acquisition of KTM Industries in late 2022, which brought with it two new manufacturing facilities in Reno, Nevada, and in Holt, Michigan, as well as KTM’s Green Cell Foam packaging material.
TemperPack also operates manufacturing facilities in Henrico and Las Vegas, Nevada. The company makes packaging products that insulate shipments for firms such as meal-kit companies HelloFresh and Marley Spoon, as well as eye-care products firm Alcon and Cytiva, a life sciences technology company.
Dutton said the company manufactured enough materials last year to outfit more than 45 million shipments. The company has 700 employees. It declined to share its annual revenue. Last year it raised $140 million in investor capital.
TemperPack’s headquarters is at the Carolina Avenue facility. It also has a local research-and-development lab at 2660 Decatur St. in Clopton Siteworks in South Richmond.
Peter Wells
In addition to its push with WaveKraft, Wells said, TemperPack also intends to make further inroads into the life science sector, an industry where it already has clients but is interested in expanding.
“We’re pushing hard to better understand the pharma space. There are a lot of cold-chain needs there across the board in terms of how life science products are developed, launched and delivered,” he said. “That’s a space we want to be growing in a significant way.”
Wells, 56, left Smart Wires in May. He was also formerly CEO of General Electric’s European wind energy division and has held other leadership positions in the energy industry.
He said that his interest in a new gig coincided with TemperPack’s efforts to find a new CEO, and that a headhunting firm connected Wells with the company.
“I just really liked the team and really liked the (packaging) space and the impact. I felt I was a good fit for what they were looking for now in their journey of growth,” Wells said in an interview last week. “I had a rough awareness of the company and it sounded interesting to me. I happened to be talking to a headhunter earlier this year to say I’d be looking to transition this summer.”
As to Beckler’s departure, TemperPack said he and the company mutually agreed to part ways. Beckler also left the company’s board of directors in June.
“Bob served as our board chair since 2016 and as our CEO since July 2021. We would not be where we are without his leadership. The people, partners and ideas he brought to the company made us stronger, and we’re grateful for his service,” Dutton said.
Brian Powers, who was CEO before Beckler, co-founded TemperPack in 2015 with James McGoff and Charles Vincent.
ClimaCell is a thermal insulating packaging liner manufactured and sold by Henrico-based TemperPack Technologies. (Photos courtesy of TemperPack Technologies)
Henrico-based packaging company TemperPack Technologies has a new top boss at the helm as it steers parts of its production methods into new territory.
Veteran energy industry executive Peter Wells took over as the firm’s CEO last month, becoming its second chief executive in as many years.
Wells replaces Bob Beckler, who was TemperPack’s CEO from mid-2021 to this past January. Wells comes aboard as the company expands its offerings beyond its original flagship ClimaCell product, an insulating packaging liner that the company markets as an environmentally friendly alternative to Styrofoam.
Its new initiative, dubbed WaveKraft, is a packaging-manufacturing machine placed on the warehouse floors of TemperPack clients that allows them to produce insulation-panel packaging in-house.
TemperPack launched the first wave of the new units this year, leasing them to customers who use paper purchased from TemperPack to make WaveKraft insulation panels.
TemperPack pitches WaveKraft as a way for customers to save space at their distribution centers, because the panels can be made on demand. It also gives TemperPack a means to reach customers in a way that avoids the costs associated with shipping already-made products.
The WaveKraft machine, a TemperPack product that manufactures packaging insulation liners.
The company’s entire inventory of WaveKraft units is already spoken for.
“All ten of our first-generation machines are in deployment on long-term, committed leases,” TemperPack spokesman Jed Dutton said in an email.
TemperPack declined to comment on the cost to build a WaveKraft unit. It also declined to share what kind of investment went into its 340,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at 4447 Carolina Ave., where it makes the units.
“To stand up WaveKraft, we’ve adapted 20,000 square feet at our Carolina (Avenue) facility and invested in R&D, production and talent. We’re excited to have brought on board a whole new capability: machine design and production,” Dutton said.
Wells, who was most recently CEO of Smart Wires, a North Carolina-based electrical power analytics firm, said the WaveKraft line opens the door to the company building a bigger international presence beyond its existing operations in North America and in Europe.
“We do have potential opportunities for WaveKraft in the Asia-Pacific region,” Wells said. “We’re closing in and securing a deal there which would be small scale but would mean we have that opportunity up and running next year.”
The introduction of Wells to the company’s leadership and the rollout of WaveKraft follow TemperPack’s acquisition of KTM Industries in late 2022, which brought with it two new manufacturing facilities in Reno, Nevada, and in Holt, Michigan, as well as KTM’s Green Cell Foam packaging material.
TemperPack also operates manufacturing facilities in Henrico and Las Vegas, Nevada. The company makes packaging products that insulate shipments for firms such as meal-kit companies HelloFresh and Marley Spoon, as well as eye-care products firm Alcon and Cytiva, a life sciences technology company.
Dutton said the company manufactured enough materials last year to outfit more than 45 million shipments. The company has 700 employees. It declined to share its annual revenue. Last year it raised $140 million in investor capital.
TemperPack’s headquarters is at the Carolina Avenue facility. It also has a local research-and-development lab at 2660 Decatur St. in Clopton Siteworks in South Richmond.
Peter Wells
In addition to its push with WaveKraft, Wells said, TemperPack also intends to make further inroads into the life science sector, an industry where it already has clients but is interested in expanding.
“We’re pushing hard to better understand the pharma space. There are a lot of cold-chain needs there across the board in terms of how life science products are developed, launched and delivered,” he said. “That’s a space we want to be growing in a significant way.”
Wells, 56, left Smart Wires in May. He was also formerly CEO of General Electric’s European wind energy division and has held other leadership positions in the energy industry.
He said that his interest in a new gig coincided with TemperPack’s efforts to find a new CEO, and that a headhunting firm connected Wells with the company.
“I just really liked the team and really liked the (packaging) space and the impact. I felt I was a good fit for what they were looking for now in their journey of growth,” Wells said in an interview last week. “I had a rough awareness of the company and it sounded interesting to me. I happened to be talking to a headhunter earlier this year to say I’d be looking to transition this summer.”
As to Beckler’s departure, TemperPack said he and the company mutually agreed to part ways. Beckler also left the company’s board of directors in June.
“Bob served as our board chair since 2016 and as our CEO since July 2021. We would not be where we are without his leadership. The people, partners and ideas he brought to the company made us stronger, and we’re grateful for his service,” Dutton said.
Brian Powers, who was CEO before Beckler, co-founded TemperPack in 2015 with James McGoff and Charles Vincent.
The first thing he needs to do is get a new staging parking lot for the Trucks that block up the whole area in front of his plant