Who We Are
 

Founded in 1966, we have been a family-owned business for over 57 years, with our headquarters located in the wonderful city of Madison, Wisconsin. We are a leading designer, manufacturer of stock and custom designed plastic thermoforming, and injection molded packaging. We work with a broad range of customers throughout the world in the food, medical and retail market space with a primary focus on the North American markets. In 2011, we were the first thermoforming company to open an on-site recycling center that allows us to bring in PET recycled bottles and thermoforms to create our EcoStar® post-consumer recycled PET material. We believe in sustainability so much that it is part of our company vision statement. Each day our team is driving to create, innovate and collaborate with our customers to create simply, better, packaging that will highlight their products within the food, retail or medical markets.

 
Our Story
 
Our Customers
 

We work with a variety of customers in the food, retail and medical markets across North America and globally. Each customer is very important to us as we value our long-lasting customer relationships and is a key reason we are here today. Our customers are always welcome to visit any of our locations to tour the facilities or to see their products manufactured in our production and clean room areas. Our headquarters in Madison, WI offers customers a unique experience where they can visit our Design Center of Excellence. This space was created to provide an open concept space with product display areas and technology to inspire new ideas, conduct project reviews and work together.

 
Our Facilities
 

Since 1966, our headquarters has been in the great city of Madison, Wisconsin. It is here where our 340,000 square foot corporate facility houses a robust CNC machining department, world-class inline and rollfed thermoformers, extruders, state-of-the-art robotics and ISO 8 clean rooms. In addition, Madison is home to our state-of-the-art onsite recycling center where we bring in millions of recycled PET bottles and thermoforms each day to be processed into our EcoStar® post-consumer recycled PET material used in our food, medical and retail packaging. As we continue to grow and expand our business, it is essential that we have strategic manufacturing and warehouse locations across North America in order to assist and better service our customers with their day-to-day supply chain needs. Our other manufacturing locations include:

 

• Elkhart, IN
Located strategically in Elkhart, Indiana, our 48,000 square foot ISO 13845 certified facility setup to manufacture only medical products. From in-house innovative design, prototyping, tooling, inline flexographic printing, welding and die cutting, our Elkhart facility has all the tools in place to provide world-class, turnkey packaging solutions for sterile and non-sterile applications, that are 21 CFR 820 compliant. Our packaging systems and strategic manufacturing location help medical device and pharmaceutical OEM’s get their products to market quickly, safely and cost-effectively.

 

• Plymouth, MN
Our Plymouth team is equipped with in-house product and tool design, tool fabrication, quality, and rolled manufacturing departments. This 84,000 square foot facility is ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certified, along with an ISO 100,000 clean room to support food, retail, and medical packaging projects. Our Plymouth facility provides a sense of hometown community about 15 minutes from downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.

 

• West Springfield, MA
Our West Springfield location is home to our injection molded food container manufacturing. Strategically located to support our soup and processing customers, this facility provides more than 100,000 square feet and is SQF certified. Our fully staffed office, production and operation teams are committed to providing you with food-safe products. We make our range of 7 ounces, 168-ounce injection molded plastic containers that are great for tamper-evident products, hot soups or freezable applications.

 

• Wilson, NC
Our Wilson location is our latest thermoforming location, taking on our most popular stock items. Welcoming an additional 140,000sqf facility on the east coast allowed us to expand our capacity for our stock food market.

Quality you can trust

 

We adhere to the high standards of safety, quality and sustainability required by the food, retail and medical packaging markets throughout each of our facilities. As a manufacturer of stock and custom food, retail and medical packaging along with using recycled post-consumer PET, it is important that we maintain our annual audits to ensure all specifications are upheld to meet our customer’s expectations. Each location goes through an individual audit depending on the products produced within that specific facility such as ISO 9001, ISO 13485, SQF and ISO Class 100,000 clean room certifications. You can find all of our certifications on our Resources page, which is found at the top of our website or in the footer area.

 
History Highlights
 
INNOVATING
Since 1966
Placon Incorporated is established after Tom Mohs builds a small thermoforming machine in his basement. A plastic jewelry box is the first product produced.
At This Time in History: The Sound of Music wins the Best Picture Oscar
IN THE
Beginning
Placon purchases its first automatic thermoforming machine.
At This Time in History: The Packers and Chiefs play in the first Superbowl.
BUILDING
the Future
A 6,000 sq. ft. facility is built on the newly purchased McKee Road property in Madison, WI.
At This Time in History: Neil Armstrong becomes the first man on the moon
PICTURE
Perfect
The company becomes one of the suppliers of the blister that goes over the Kodak® Color Burst Camera.
At This Time in History: Sony introduces the Walkman
INTRODUCING
BlisterBox
Tom Mohs, together with Richard Engel, invent and patent what is to be a mainstay in retail stores worldwide, the Placon BlisterBox container.
At This Time in History: Ted Turner launches CNN
EXPANDING
Markets
The company adds its disposable plastic food packaging division.
At This Time in History: Michael Jackson releases Thriller which sells more than 25 million copies
IN-HOUSE
Recycling
Placon’s internal Recycling Department is established.
At This Time in History: Vinyl records fall behind CDs in sales
INTERNATIONAL
Standards
Placon’s Madison, WI office becomes ISO 9001 certified.
At This Time in History: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum opens in Cleveland
CUSTOMIZING
Solutions
The company’s Custom Products Division is formed, taking thermoformed packaging to new heights.
At This Time in History: Frozen water is found on the moon by the Athena probe
MOVING
Ahead
The Placon facility in Madison, Wisconsin earns its first AIB inspection certificate and first order for Crystal Seal products.
At This Time in History: The Producers wins 12 trophies at the Tony awards
ON A ROLL
with Recycled PET
Recycled PET rollstock extrusion line added. Placon will go on to extrude over 13.3 million pounds of post-consumer recycled roll stock by the end of 2004.
At This Time in History: The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy
COLOR
Your Brand
The company adds a new printing department.
At This Time in History: Google, the company, goes public
TOPPING
the Charts
Placon is named one of the Top 20 North American Thermoformers by Plastics News magazine.
At This Time in History: YouTube is launched in the US
ENVISIONING
the Future
The company’s post-consumer recycled PET extruded rollstock material for thermoforming applications is branded under the name EcoStar®.
At This Time in History: Apple iPhone is announced
ELEVATING
Capabilities
Placon acquires Barger, a total solutions medical device packaging company located in Elkhart, Indiana. Placon’s state-of-the-art recycling facility opens its doors and begins producing EcoStar® post-consumer recycled PET rollstock.
At This Time in History: Kate Middleton and Prince William marry at Westminster Abbey
AWARD
Winning
The company receives a DuPont Gold and IOPP AmeriStar award for P&G Gillette’s Venus & Olay package and picks up a Barger AmeriStar win for its Wright Medical clamshell packaging design.
At This Time in History: The smallest known exoplanet, Kepler-37b is discovered
FAST
Forward
Injection molding capabilities are added with the acquisition of Plastic Packaging Corporation.
At This Time in History: Germany wins the 2014 World Cup in Brazil
BRAND
Expansion
Placon expands further into the retail and medical packaging markets through its acquisition of Brookdale Plastics, located in Plymouth, Minnesota.
At This Time in History: Rio de Janeiro holds South America’s first Summer Olympics
REACHING
Milestones
Placon celebrates its 50th Anniversary.
At This Time in History: The Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time in more than 100 years
RECEIVING
Recognition
Placon founder Tom Mohs is inducted posthumously into the Plastics Hall of Fame for his groundbreaking contributions to the Plastics Industry.
At This Time in History: "The Great American Eclipse" is visible from coast-to-coast across the United States
COLLABORATION
and Efficiency
Placon increases communication and decreases turn-around time for customers by opening its Design Center of Excellence at its headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.
At This Time in History: Serena Williams sets a record for the most major tournament wins by an individual ever
AWARD
Winning
Placon wins two Gold Awards at the Society of Plastics Engineers’ Thermoforming Conference.
At This Time in History: Apple becomes the first American public listed company to reach $1 trillion in value
MEDICAL
Market Expansion
Placon adds Class 8 cleanroom in Elkhart, Indiana manufacturing facility to support continued medical market growth.
At This Time in History: US fashion company Michael Kors buys Italian brand Versace for $2.1 billion
EXCELLENCE
in Design Innovation
Placon is recognized by IoPP and receives three Ameristar awards.
At This Time in History: The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) named highest paid actor 2nd year in a row earning $89.4 million
AWARD
Winning
Placon is awarded three awards at the Society of Plastics Engineers’ Thermoforming Conference in the Industrial and Food packaging categories.
At This Time in History: Batman celebrates the 80th anniversary of the first Batman comic
LEADING THE WAY IN
Package Design
Placon wins three (3) WorldStar awards recognized by the World Packaging Organization and are the pre-eminent international award in packaging.
At This Time in History: Greta Thunberg becomes the youngest individual ever to be named TIME MAGAZINE’S Person of the Year
PLACON JUST
One Click Away
Placon introduces their new company website. With new search features and content, their new website is more user friendly and information is just one click away.
At This Time in History: COVID-19 prompts schools to shut down, businesses to work remotely and people to remain on lockdown to help contain the virus.
SUPPORT DURING
COVID-19
We shipped over 15 million PPE plastic face shield components in response to COVID-19 to support our healthcare workers and emergency responders.
At This Time in History: Facemasks are required by most states and 6ft. social distancing is happening in all businesses and restaurants to prevent spread of COVID-19.
Award-Winning
Medical Packaging
Placon is awarded the AmeriStar award in the Medical Device category in back-to-back years (2019 & 2020).
At This Time in History: The 59th presidential election is taking place on November 3rd between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Award-Winning
WORLDSTAR AWARD
Placon is award the WorldStar award in the Medical and Pharmaceutical category for the second consecutive year (2020 & 2021) for their custom medical packaging solution.
At This Time in History: The COVID-19 vaccine is starting to be distributed and given to front-line workers across the United States.
The World’s
FIRST
Placon introduces OxyStar™, the world’s first thermoform PET barrier material with a #1 resin code. The #1 resin code means all packaging made using OxyStar barrier material can be recycled.
At This Time in History: Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States of America officially takes office.
Lamination
Capability
Placon adds laminated sheet to their rollstock, with two types of barrier materials.
At This Time in History: The Department of Energy launches Perlmutter, the world's fastest AI-specialized supercomputer, with four exaflops of performance.
Acquisition
Placon Acquires Sonoco Facility in Wilson, NC, a 100,000 square foot food packaging manufacturing location.
At This Time in History: Star Trek actor William Shatner becomes the oldest person to go into space, at age 90, on board the Blue Origin NS-18, launched from Texas.
Medical Center of
Excellence Expansion
Placon doubles Elkhart, IN with grand expansion featuring state of the art equipment, workspaces, and collaboration.
At This Time in History: 66 Years ago, Rosa Parks sets off a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama when she refuses to give up her seat. This event led to the birth of the civil rights movement and the ending of racial segregation in the United States.
Launch Sustainability
Blog
Placon released a new blog called Placonomics® focusing on topics in sustainable packaging. The Placonomics articles educate and start conversations around the progress to a circular economy in packaging.
At This Time in History: The first image from the James Webb Space Telescope is published by NASA.
Wins AmeriStar
Award
Placon receives an AmeriStar Award from the Institute of Packaging Professionals for a tray design for Master Builders Solutions (MBS).
At This Time in History: The NBA announces the retirement of the number 6 league-wide to honor the late Bill Russell, a first for the league.
OxyStar
Placon launches the first recyclable barrier material, with an oxygen scavenger to prolong food shelf-life.
At This Time in History: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the age of 96. Her son Charles III succeeds her as King.