Colbert Packaging

Today, the modern packaging industry is no more constrained to merely the protection of product; the role of packaging has transitioned from exterior covering to very brand identity. As the retail shelf is the very final frontier for brands’ marketing campaign, packaging plays a very crucial role in ensuring that it connects with the consumer in the right way. Intricate details like the weight, texture, color, the product information printed over the package govern the stakes of the consumer’s interest on the brand, and that is exactly what Colbert Packaging specializes in capturing.

Colbert Packaging prides itself with unwavering commitment for producing safe, smart and sustainable packaging for its customers that include some of the biggest names in the pharmaceutical, healthcare and consumer goods markets. A pioneer in the manufacturing packages, Colbert is dedicated to improve patient adherence with drug treatment regimens. All of Colbert’s unit dose packages can be fully customized with a variety of blister cavities, and manufactured using secure and sustainable materials.

Started as an independent, family-owned business, Colbert’s roots trace back to Chicago, where the late Charles Colbert purchased the property and assets of Kroeck Paper Box founded in 1892. Backed with a strong legacy of his father as one of the largest producers of folding cartons and carton board in the country, Charles Colbert nourished the business to grow organically and through acquisition. Today, under the leadership of his daughter and current CEO - Nancy Colbert MacDougall, Colbert Packaging owns and operates three manufacturing facilities located in Lake Forest, IL; Kenosha, WI; and Elkhart, IN, along with a corporate office in Lake Forest. The company’s ingenuity is proven by its diverse portfolio of paperboard specialty products, a multitude of one-of-a-kind solutions, a majority of which are designed in direct response to a specific customer request or industry requirement. Few of the products are unit dose packages that promote patient compliance while others are designed specifically for sustainability and product security offering unique combinations that solve business or marketing challenges.

Redefining Packaging Technology

Colbert Packaging works closely with its clients to create customized folding cartons designed to maximize shelf appeal of the customer’s products. The company has invested vastly in advanced technology to handle complex, high volume jobs. With six color presses that include sheet-fed and roll-sheeting, Colbert produces over 2.8 million custom-printed and micro-folded paper inserts on a daily basis. Uniquely, the company is also capable of micro-folding inserts into as many as 238 panels.

For products requiring packaging with a high degree of structural integrity, Colbert Packaging works in co-ordination with the customer to design and manufacture customized rigid setup. The company designs distinctive packaging that reinforces customer’s brand using features such as curves, die cuts, metallic foils and many other dramatic design effects.

Ensuring Accuracy, Colbert enables bar code scanning on both the insert and the folding carton when inserts are placed in final manufacturing step. The company also provides a certificate of compliance that meets CGMP standards and complies with FDA regulations.

Colbert employs innovative labeling technology of pressure sensitive labeling that contributes to the value of customer’s brand. Owning to the technology’s high-speed applicators, faster production lines are achieved. With the help of consecutive backside numbering functionality, the company eliminates manual counts and conducts efficient visual inspection of labels rendering reduction in wastage, increased line-up capacities and faster turnaround.

A Robust Principle

Colbert follows a unique rule of safe, smart and sustainable in its business principle. The company regards its commitment to safety within customized solutions for patient adherence and consumer protection through design and paperboard packaging components. The company also offers several security options that enhance product safety and brand protection. As a certified provider of RF-EAS source tagging sensors, Colbert can automatically apply Sensormatic and Checkpoint source tagging sensors during production to increase asset protection without incurring traditional labor costs associated with manual tagging.

"Colbert follows a unique rule of safe, smart and sustainable in its business principle"

Colbert also guarantees the product safety during production through its special tear-resistant and bite-resistant paperboard. To protect the integrity of the customer’s brand and prevent counterfeiting, Colbert offers an assortment of invisible, colorless, light-reactive, heat-sensitive and coin-reactive inks that provide instant authentication when exposed to verification technologies. The company also practices combination packaging–a turnkey process that combines cartons and inserts in one simple packaging solution. Colbert significantly reduces labor costs; inventory costs as well as cost of materials by producing both cartons and inserts under one roof.

Using automated, non-contact tools to complete insert counts, Colbert provides 100 percent print and content verification. In the process, Colbert ensures the customer’s pace of mind that their users are getting the information they need for safe, effective use of their product. Moreover, the Zip- Sert^® solution’s unique zipper feature allows easy access to the insert from outside the carton. In the case when a prescription medication contains both physician and patient literature, the Zip-Sert^® provisions physician’s insert to be readily viewed from the outside of the package and removed via the zipper pocket.

In addition, as a manufacturer and employer, safety in the workplace is paramount for the Colbert. The company’s attribute of being smart is significantly exuded by its award-winning, pilfer-resistant and recyclable products manufactured despite continuing investment in capital equipments. Colbert also invests significantly in human capital, smart hiring and career advancement with a perspective of positioning the employee base as the greatest asset of the organization. As an independent, family-owned business, the company respects its loyal, tenured employees, while also welcoming new minds and hands to its workforce.

Sustainability in Colbert’s products emanates in its environmentally-friendly paperboard packaging and corporate best practices. On a deeper level, sustainable also speaks to the company’s longevity and independent spirit. The company believes that sustainability goes beyond just packaging. It is when employees share a common work ethic, family values and a desire to lead with integrity; the workplace becomes a thriving community for sustainable future generations. This marks the Colbert legacy in action.

Colbert actively strives to be environmentally responsible by reducing our usage of nonrenewable resources and increasing energy efficiency in each of its facilities. The company’s sustainability initiatives provide a solid framework for employing good business practices in the quest for a greener world. Colbert Packaging is an equal opportunity for employer committed to a culturally diverse workforce. With a vast set of qualified applicants, Colbert consists of a unique blend of diversity culture regardless to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age or veteran status.

As a people first manufacturer, Colbert practices a company-wide commitment to being responsive to customers and providing accurate information. With a strong commitment to deliver superior service from leadership to the production floor, each employee within the organization is thoroughly vested in understanding and supporting client’s products, processes and requirements. This has been and continues to be the very driving essence of Colbert’s success in the industry.