Cornelius Vogel founded Valley Packaging Supply in his basement. From the 1950’s through the early 1970’s, the company slowly but steadily grew to five machines and one additional employee. Vogel also moved the company to the second story of a hay barn he rented in DePere, WI. During this time, VPS primarily produced cellophane and poly bags.
1976
Rick Czachor purchased the company. He and two employees worked at Valley Packaging Supply.
Growth Accelerates
1977-1986
The company experienced multiple building moves and additions to create space for more machines. The company had six full-time employees during this time.
1987-1991
Business really started to diversify as the flexible packaging movement gained momentum. Valley invested in complex, high speed machinery and expanded into stand up pouches and multi-layer bags.
1992-1999
Valley had to keep up with growing market demand by adding even more machinery and staff. By 1999, the company had grown to 19 full-time employees and now offered zippered pouches and one-way valves.
Rick Czachor’s son, Lance, joined the company in 1992. Ty Parsons, General Manager, joined in 1999.
Time for Something New
2000
A brand-new 65,000 square foot facility was constructed in Ashwaubenon, WI.
Embracing the Future
2002
Lance Czachor assumed the role of President of Valley Packaging Supply.
2002-2016
Valley outgrew its new home quickly and underwent three more building additions, expanding its total footprint to 185,000 square feet. Business also continued to diversify into box pouches, spouted pouches, and more. The total employee count rose to 130+ and Valley now housed over 40 production lines.
2018
Valley Packaging Supply and Phoenix Converting in Itasca, IL became the first two companies to launch a new flexible packaging consortium called Advanced Converting Works (ACW) founded by Chris Wrobel.
2019
Advanced Converting Works continued to grow and added three new subsidiary companies to the ACW family: Precision Color Graphics (Franklin, WI), Specialty Packaging Technologies (Elgin, IL), and American Pouch Converters (Elgin, IL). This grew ACW’s total capacity to 200+ production lines spanning five facilities and over 350,000 square feet of production and design space, making them one of the largest pouching operations in North America.