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Frain Industries Expands to Larger Quarters Mid-September!

FRANKLIN PARK, IL (September 7, 2004) –

In a period when many companies are contracting, Frain Industries continues to expand. Recently, the Frain Group purchased the 23 acre, 600,000 sq ft old Panasonic building in Franklin Park Illinois, just five minutes from O’Hare airport. This new addition will increase The Frain Groups’ total square footage to just over 1 million. The new building will accommodate the rapidly expanding packaging machinery inventory Frain has in stock and ready to ship. Over 6,200 machines are currently being housed in five separate buildings; the new building allows all Frain inventory to be stored under one roof. The move also will bring Frain Industries and its sister company, Cartpac, which refurbishes used equipment, into the same building for the first time. Frain plans to start the moving process in Mid 2004.

Changing trends in the packaging and processing industry are the primary reasons for Frain’s recent expansion project. Recently, many large food and pharmaceutical manufacturers have minimized their packaging machinery spending budget and have looked for other ways to fulfill their packaging needs. Frain Industries has helped many companies stretch their budget through the redeployment of their existing idle asset inventory. Frain assists companies in recognizing machinery that they already own that can be reused with a few simple modifications. These idle assets are then moved to the Frain facility where they are skidded and documented. The remaining unused inventory is entered onto a web site where employees of the corporation can view detailed information about each piece of inventory. This process has saved several large food and pharmaceutical companies millions of dollars over the course of a year, also a substantial amount of time is saved using this process as opposed to buying new. With budget trends continuing to head in this direction, Frain expects an increase in the redeployment of manufacturers idle asset inventory.

Frain Industries just celebrated twenty-five successful years in business. With an expansion of inventory and facilities and the variety of machines available, Frain Industries plans continued growth while remaining the world leader in used packaging and processing machinery.

The Frain Group is the world leader in high quality used packaging and processing machinery with over 5,700 machines in stock and available for two day shipping. Frain strives to continuously expand its inventory while providing outstanding customer service to consumers in the food, pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetic industries.

Frain rents, sells or leases all types of packaging machinery and has the ability to set up any machine for the customers specific need, all with a two week right of return guarantee.

A sign inside Frain Industries’ new showroom sums up the company’s unique model: “Zero missed opportunities – OEMs build it, Frain buys it, end users rent it, repeat.”

The 200,000-sq-ft showroom at Frain’s Carol Stream, Ill., facility physically embodies that model, housing over 2,000 packaging and processing equipment solutions from over 70 OEM partners. The company purchases this equipment new from OEMs, stocking its rental fleet for CPGs who need a quick turnaround installation.

“If an OEM’s customer is looking to have a piece of equipment built, it could take 10 to 12 months to build it new. We can get them up and running and producing in a matter of two weeks for packaging equipment. If it’s processing equipment, a lot of times we can turn that in 48 hours,” explains Mary Woodrick, brand ambassador at Frain.

Equipment all in one place

Frain’s rental model is on display on the showroom wall. Source: OEM Magazine

Equipment all in one place

The showroom lines all this equipment up so it’s ready as needed, creating benefits for CPG customers, OEM partners, and Frain’s own operations. Central to that is the new level of organization it affords.

“We’ve never been able to organize equipment by OEM; we were scanning location markers and placing machinery wherever it would fit,” says Woodrick. “That was a big purpose of this showroom, to be able to showcase everything that we have from ADCO, and then everything that we have from Pattyn, and so on.”

Since all of Frain’s inventory of OEM equipment is organized in one place, it also acts as a de facto selling floor for the company’s OEM partners.

“Many of the OEMs don’t have all this machinery on their floor,” explains Woodrick. “Sometimes a customer wants to touch, feel, and see the equipment, so the OEM can bring their customer in here and show them. Even if it has nothing to do with the rental, they’re welcome to bring customers in here.”

Equipment all in one place

The company can install processing equipment like tanks, kettles, mixers, or blenders at CPG facilities in as little as 48 hours. Source: OEM Magazine

Bridging the lead-time gap

One of the biggest benefits of the showroom and rental model it supports is the flexibility it enables for CPGs, even if a direct order for a new piece of OEM equipment is already in the works.

“Because of the long lead times that OEMs have, what are you going to do while you’re waiting for a piece of equipment? We fill that gap,” says Steve Kuhlman, director of sales and marketing at Frain.

That same availability can also help CPGs to cut back on risk when scaling for a new product.

“New products fail quite often. Rent [the equipment], test it out, get your permanent piece if it’s going to work,” says Kuhlman.

Frain even has customers who return each year for the same equipment on a seasonal basis. One manufacturer rents a bagger and scale system to handle extra holiday demand for their product and returns the equipment once the season winds down.

It also works as a backstop for the unexpected.

“We’ve had people whose metal detector went out, and they couldn’t ship without their product going through it. Production that was supposed to be shipped out that day was sitting, and they had no room for it, so they could rent a metal detector,” Woodrick says. “We’ll have people jumping through hoops here, because we know how important it is for customers to be able to get their product to market.”

Bridging the lead-time gap

A sign in Frain’s showroom outlines the range of scenarios that drive CPGs to the rental model. Source: OEM Magazine

A plug-and-play process

Getting started with Frain doesn’t require a trip to Carol Stream. A phone call or Zoom meeting is often enough to get moving.

CPGs can start by sending in a product sample, and Frain’s engineers, many with 30 or more years of experience, can determine the right equipment for the customer’s specific application. For customers who do visit, Frain even includes full lines of equipment on the perimeter of the showroom.

“It gives the customer an idea of the footprint that you need for something like this,” says Woodrick. “You can always look at it on a drawing, but actually seeing it gives a much better visual.”

After picking out the right equipment for the job, Frain offers to set it all up for a factory acceptance test, ensuring the mechanical, pneumatic, and electrical components are up to the latest standards and ready for production.

“It’s plug and play,” says Kuhlman. “We’re setting their equipment up so when it leaves our dock, it’s pretty much ready when they get it on-site at their plant. It’s all set up since we’ve dialed it in with the right tooling, so they’re ready to go with less downtime.”

Once the equipment is on-site, Frain can even offer startup assistance and training to ensure a smooth start to the new production process.

For Kuhlman, the biggest challenge remains conveying the scale of what Frain offers to customers who haven’t yet made the trip.

“Once they understand the extent of the equipment that we can offer and how we can assemble it for their specific use – you can say the words, but this showroom helps to come in and see that it’s real.”

Example production line
An example production line in the showroom gives a sense of equipment footprint, from case erecting to robotic palletizing. Source: OEM Magazine
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