From KartridgPak to OYSTAR Packaging Technologies we remain a step ahead.
Conceived by engineers in 1944 and given independent life as a subsidiary of Oscar Mayer & Company in 1946, KartridgPak was established in Chicago to further develop the potential of machinery designed to mechanically band and label wieners and sausages.
Chub Packaging: Our first significant innovation
Before the decade was complete, the Oscar Mayer research engineers developed another unique device intended to economically package liver sausage and other meat products in a convenient and easy-to-handle tube.
This innovative design, still referred to as a Chub Packaging Machine, was turned over to KartridgPak for full-scale production and industry-wide distribution.
KartridgPak Moves to Iowa
In 1952 KartridgPak relocated to Davenport, Iowa, and was fully re-tasked to research and develop machinery for the meat processing and packaging industries.
Two specialized machines were soon developed. The first, an automatic sausage linker, was capable of twisting long casings of sausage meat into standard wiener lengths at high speed. The second successful new design used air jets and sharp blades to strip casings from the links.
To further expand business opportunities in the mid 1950s, KartridgPak acquired two Illinois-based companies manufacturing aerosol packaging machinery for use in the drug, dairy and cosmetic industries.
In 1965 these two acquisitions and all KartridgPak operations were consolidated in new quarters -- still occupied today -- on Kimberly Road in Davenport, Iowa.
One year later, the Dow Chemical Company purchased half interest in KartridgPak from Oscar Mayer & Company. The purchase further broadened the scope of KartridgPak activities and stimulated new growth.
Holmatic: Separately developed. Similarly successful.
Holmatic Incorporated, today a brand dominant in its marketplace was founded in 1966 to manufacture snap-on lid applicators for coffee cans.
Within four years, Holmatic manufactured its first integrated packaging system, the PR-1. This sophisticated system integrated cup de-nesting, product filling, tamper-evident sealing and overcapping on a single machine frame. Holmatic later expanded its range to include stand-alone sealing systems and multiple lane cup fillers.
KartridgPak and Holmatic brands acquired by BWI
In the 1980’s, a decade of acquisition and consolidation, the KartridgPak Company and Holmatic Inc. were both purchased by Barry Wehmiller International (BWI), a group of machinery manufacturing organizations located in North America and Europe.
Over the next decade, sales and management of the two companies were consolidated within the Davenport, Iowa, headquarters of BWI KartridgPak.
Aerofill Brand joins stable of BWI companies
In 1990, BWI purchased Aerofill Limited of Hayes England, a synergistic fit with the machine engineering and manufacturing expertise already an integral part of the BWI and KartridgPak corporate family.
Today, with more than 50 years of industry-specific experience, fully 60 percent of the aerosol filling production accomplished throughout the world is being processed on Aerofill brand machinery.
In 2004 the well-respected Autoprod brand of filling and lidding systems has joined our line-up of innovative packaging options, with all brands and formerly independent companies operating under Packaging Technologies.
In 2008 Packaging Technologies acquired MAP Systems, a division of Clear Lam Packaging. The combination of Packaging Technologies and MAP Systems creates a primary packaging solutions provider specializing in packaging line integration.
The new millennium brought another ownership change, as well as new resources to our KartridgPak, Aerofill, Holmatic, Autoprod and MAP Systems.
Packaging Technologies becomes OYSTAR Packaging Technologies
Most importantly, it remains the mission of OYSTAR Packaging Technologies to engineer, manufacture and deliver a diverse selection of superbly designed, technologically advanced and reliably constructed packaging machinery.
You can count on our worldwide distributor network to speak your language and be familiar with your customs and business practices.