You need a strategic partner, not just a co-packer, to help drive innovation, faster.
More than ever, packaged food and beverage brands are being forced to innovate faster. You need to run nimble market tests, meet consumer sustainability demands, and win attention at the point of sale, all while maintaining efficiency.
With more than 25 years of experience partnering with the country’s leading brands, Accel is more than a co-packer to our clients—we’re a partner in innovation. Through our agile, entrepreneurial culture and flexible capabilities, our qualified team of engineers regularly develop unique packaging solutions that go above and beyond our clients’ goals to achieve competitive advantages in a hyper competitive industry.
We constantly challenge ourselves to bring innovation to everything we do, including our high-tech production processes, flexible staffing model, data visualization tools, and commitment to community and socially conscious programs as a woman-owned business certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
Sustainability-driven innovation puts the environment and your productivity first
Accel’s sustainability starts with our processes. With an operational culture rooted in Lean Six Sigma, our engineers are trained in methodologies focused on meeting the highest material and operational standards. Implementation of Lean Six Sigma has improved efficiency in packaging to reduce waste, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. Our facility is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified, and our exclusive Design For Engineering (DFE) team optimizes fabrications, processing, and assembly before production to reduce costs, ensure quality, achieve sustainability, and meet regulatory requirements.
We actively invest in machinery and automation that result in more sustainable and higher performing packaging. For example, our Schur®Star Systems pouching machine achieves greater packaging efficiency—producing up to 140 bags per minute—and allows for leaner bag design to minimize waste. This gives our clients greater productivity, creating more sustainable, durable, cost-effective packaging. Improving production efficiency allows Accel to recycle more than 80 million pounds of corrugate and 200,000 pounds of PET each year.
To help give our clients competitive advantages and reach their sustainability goals, we engineer custom packaging solutions and actively invest in the latest technologies. When a beauty company recently asked us to help equip them with more sustainable product packaging, we integrated polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) into our lines to produce disposable film, a more sustainable alternative to traditional plastic film. Our water-soluble packaging is recognized by the FDA as both safe for human consumption and better for the environment, an innovation that provides our client with packaging aligned to their eco-friendly brand strategy.
Agile and flexible on-demand staffing that delivers more than speed
Accel continually invests in our highly trained, highly certified staff. We recruit and train the workforce you need, and many of our 1,800 dedicated associates have grown through the ranks of our organization. All production line employees regularly participate in strong compliance training programs in quality, production, and maintenance.
One of our leading innovations is that we own a temporary staffing company, allowing us to provide even greater flexibility. Our Accel-owned staffing company enables us to quickly employ qualified workers on an as-needed basis. We can add second and third shifts in hours, not days or weeks, to meet accelerated timelines and respond to market demand.
Accel’s state of the art, 517,000 square-foot facility is strategically located within a vertically integrated supply chain on campus. The only one of its kind in the country, our campus is home to 20 partner companies that collaborate up and down stream, reducing the time it takes to get products to market while decreasing your carbon footprint and transportation costs. With our connected supply chain across the full packaging cycle, from bottling and filling to formulating and packaging, you have access to flexible capabilities that can run small-batch pilot programs and high-volume productions, quickly and cost effectively.
Since we were founded, we’ve been dedicated to diversity and inclusion in our workforce and among our suppliers. Today, 73 percent of our staff are women, and more than 22 countries and 18 languages are represented on our team. Through our Supplier Diversity Program, we’re committed to partnerships with minority-owned businesses. Accel has been certified by WBENC since 1997, and chairwoman and founder Tara Abraham has been recognized as a Woman of Distinction for her commitment to breaking down barriers for women-owned businesses. Inclusion of more voices and perspectives is a differentiator that we champion.
We take the idea of community a step further at Accel through our Buses of Hope program. To build our community and provide work opportunities to those without jobs, our buses routinely pick up 1,200 associates, making sure they have safe, reliable transportation to work.
More process visibility, higher productivity
As supply chain managers continue to seek ways to meet operational challenges, improve efficiency, and maintain packaging safety and quality, the ability to track products through the supply chain has become increasingly critical. A performance track record can help give you peace of mind. But you also need to know that your co-packer is meeting expectations at all times.
With regulatory demands among the biggest supply chain challenges that food and beverage companies face, Accel gives you the visibility you need to oversee production with our advanced Nulogy PackManager technology. The advanced data visualization tool connects to our facilities so that you can monitor important metrics on your production lines in near real time, from inventory movement to materials management to quality control. This interface ensures you have access to reporting on your product 24/7. We’re committed to transparency and visibility, and this innovation provides us the ability to collaborate with our partners on managing even the most complex orders in the fastest, safest, and most efficient way possible.
Our PackManager system is fully encrypted to protect your data, and integrates with leading ERP systems, including SAP, Oracle, Manhattan, JDA, and more, making it easy and painless to plug into your reporting suite.
Bring innovation to your co-packing
As packaged food and beverage brands push for faster results, bringing Accel to the conversation early can create opportunities to make bigger strides in productivity, quality, sustainability, and profitability. Our innovation in tech, staffing, and transparency ensure that you are getting the best packaging solution for your unique challenge.
