Unless you’re a Fortune 100 food company, you’ve probably never heard of Peacock Engineering Co., based just west of Chicago in Geneva, Ill.

But chances are excellent that you’ve eaten
food that was packaged in one of Peacock Engineering’s four local packaging facilities, products from such industry-leading companies as Kraft Foods, Unilever, Gerber, Brach’s, Nestle, Wrigley, ConAgra Foods, Oscar Meyer, and Land O’Lakes.

As many food companies look at themselves more as product developers and marketers instead of manufacturers, they are outsourcing the packaging of products to companies such as Peacock, which has experienced phenomenal growth over the past several years, said Michael Bilder, president.

“Most consumers don’t know we exist, and food companies want it that way,” Bilder said. “They trust us with their good name, and we take that seriously.”

Shedding lines
When Bilder joined Peacock Engineering in 1996, sales of food and non-food packaging services stood at $15 million. He was promoted to president the following year and guided Peacock through a period of transition, shedding the non-food packaging lines to concentrate on the rapidly growing outsourced food packaging business.

Sales in 2006 are expected to top $200 million, and Bilder sees Peacock surpassing $300 million in 2007 because of new product launches and long-term dedicated contracts. Peacock builds
its business by forming strategic relationships, building dialogs, and working collaboratively to produce the best and most cost-effective
products, Bilder said.

Up to 80% of Peacock’s business is composed of dedicated lines. The rest of the production capacity is dedicated to shorter-run products and special projects.

“Our operations are state of the art, so customers know they can count on us to work with them to solve their packaging needs,” Bilder said. “That’s what the customer wants—flexibility and a high degree of quality.”

The rise of warehouse clubs and mass merchants that want products packaged to their specifications has led to the ascendance of outsourced packaging firms, which are flexible enough to keep up with constant packaging challenges while working with customers to find cost-effective solutions.

“Specialty packaging can drive traditional manufacturers crazy,” Bilder said. “That’s where companies like Peacock Engineering shine.”

Nearly one-third of all food products are sold outside traditional grocery stores, so the need for specialty packaging stands at an all-time high. A warehouse club might want two boxes of cereal packaged in one box, while another might require three bottles of sauce shrink-wrapped together, Bilder explained. Others require special sizes to differentiate themselves from competitors.

Peacock accepts products such as cereal in bulk and packages them according to specifications using high-tech automated filling systems. For example, it has a high-speed pouching system for dried fruit that can fill 1,200 pouches a minute. Others require mixing or bringing several components together to comprise the finished product.

“Our sell is operational excellence,” Bilder said. “We can get to market quicker and have engineering models to come up with unique packaging configurations to make cost-effective products without compromising aesthetics and functionality.”

Bagged and wrapped
The company’s four facilities total more than 800,000 square feet and employ 800, Bilder said. Peacock performs high-speed cartoning, bagging, shrink-wrapping, and over-wrapping, along with a variety of primary packaging functions. Computerized bar-code inventory tracking systems, lot trace and recall, metal detection, and weight control are just a few of the quality assurance programs that Peacock has to ensure the quality packaging of products and customer satisfaction.

The company can also provide both temperature-controlled and refrigerated packaging environments. Its refrigerated facilities are certified by the US Department of Agriculture after meeting stringent quality standards. Peacock can package food and cheese products within a USDA-certified environment, performing such services as assembling microwavable sandwich components.

Peacock Engineering has a proud tradition that dates to 1942, when Harold Peacock founded the business to be a processor and packager for military replacement parts and vehicles during World War II. Jerry Hayden, who still serves the company as chairman, joined the company in 1971 and was promoted to president in 1972. Hayden diversified the company into industrial packaging and grew the business from a single 50,000-square-foot facility into four plants with 150,000 square feet before three of the four buildings were replaced with one facility and a total capacity of 167,000 square feet.

The company was hit hard by the recession in the early ’80s as three key accounts underwent cutbacks, but Hayden quickly began to transition the company into consumer products packaging, a job that Bilder completed when he moved to Peacock from Monsanto Co., where he was vice president and general manager for specialty chemicals. Previously, he was director of operations for the company’s NutraSweet product.

In 2003, Bilder was a state finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award, one of five selected out of 80 nominations. Although he didn’t win, Bilder says he was humbled by the experience. “Just being a finalist was like being nominated for an Academy Award,” he said. “It was pretty impressive.”

Equally impressive is Peacock Engineering’s focus on helping its customers. Bilder calls it fortunate that the company is located near Chicago, close to food producers in the Midwest that ship to Peacock in bulk. “I’m not sure you could duplicate our success with a company on the coasts,” Bilder said.

After shifting its focus over the past decade to deal solely in food products and spending millions to expand its infrastructure, Bilder believes that Peacock is in a prime position to capitalize on the shift of packaging to outsourcers.

“We continue to see great growth opportunities,” Bilder said. “Kraft is going to close 38 plants, and we expect to get some of that business. Club stores continue to grow and need specialty packaging, and other sorts of food products will evolve into good-for-you products that traditional manufacturers won’t want to make in their own plants.”

Grayson Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , is a freelance writer based in Atlanta.