Nefab - The Full Package BF143

NEFAB

THE FULL PACKAGE

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GLOBAL PACKAGING SPECIALIST NEFAB IS DEEPENING ITS COMMITMENT TO INNOVATION WITH THE HELP OF POLYFLEX’S ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY RETURNABLE SOLUTIONS.

THE FULL PACKAGE PROJECT MANAGED BY: LIAM PYWELL

With more than 75 years in the business, Nefab is a highly experienced member of the packaging industry. What started as a Swedish bread box manufacturer in 1949 has developed into a leading global provider of sustainable packaging solutions and logistics services, serving companies in over 140 locations around the world.

N

efab’s willingness to adapt and evolve has been a key contributor to its longevity.

This ethos was on show in 2023 when Nefab acquired PolyFlex Products – a leader specialising in environmentally friendly returnable packaging solutions. The move not only reinforced Nefab’s commitment to innovation but also strengthened the company’s global market position, as well as its determination to save resources in supply chains.

“PolyFlex is a company with a very strong reputation for its returnable plastic solutions,” says Nefab’s Executive Vice President (Americas Region) Patric Vestlund. “It has a very strong position in the market, particularly in the Americas.”

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A POPULAR PARTNER

PolyFlex’s celebrated speed to market has made the company a popular partner for product protection, manufacturing automation, agricultural precision and packaging solutions.

The company’s highly effective material handling packaging solutions can be found across a broad range of industries, including the automotive, agriculture, food and beverage, and consumer goods sectors.

“As a company, engineering is the backbone of what we do,” says VP of Plastics Solutions Americas, Darrell Tiedeman. “We benefit

Darrell Tiedeman, Vice President, Plastics Solutions Americas.

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Patric Vestlund, Executive Vice President Americas Region.

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from in-house engineering prototyping, including 3D-printing capabilities on a large-scale format. We also have our own tooling in the R&D facility, so we can build our own injection moulding tools.

From injection to heavy gauge thermoforming, our in-house manufacturing capabilities enable us to tackle any challenge the packaging world presents.”

With PolyFlex’s broad expertise now part of the company, Nefab is better positioned to deliver total packaging manufacturing, warehousing, and global logistics services.

The acquisition has helped take Nefab to the next level.

“In acquiring PolyFlex, Nefab gained a foundation in returnable plastic solutions,” Patric reveals.

“We are now a leader in this space and continue to invest in engineering, equipment, and infrastructure to maintain our position.”

“AS A COMPANY, ENGINEERING IS THE BACKBONE OF WHAT WE DO.” INCREASED PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY

In 2025, Nefab expanded its plastics processing operations with a new 137,000-ft2 facility in McMinnville, Tennessee. The USD $8.3m project is designed to enhance thermoforming and extrusion capabilities to support increased production efficiency and in-house material processing.

“We’ve been in Tennessee since 2007, and over the years, we’ve expanded that facility, adding equipment and

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capabilities,” Darrell states. “We knew we were quickly reaching a point where, as the business grew, we might need to take a big next step and extrude our own sheet in-house. Combining capabilities and resources with Nefab made that more feasible.

“It’s a very large expansion,” he continues. “We moved into a much larger building, more than doubled our square footage, and ordered a heavy gauge extrusion line, as well as another MAAC former.”

Alongside increased productivity, another benefit of the Tennessee expansion has been improved circularity. The facility can now take its own scrap and process this in-house for use in new products. The same recycling process is also performed with products returned from customers.

“The new facility has helped close the circularity loop,” Darrell affirms. “We can manufacture products, ship them to customers, they can use the product for a number of years, and then return it to us to be repurposed.”

The interconnected nature of Nefab’s production network means that the Tennessee location will also be able to serve Nefab’s Dallas facility. Like Tennessee, the site in Dallas previously had to purchase sheet from outside sources, but can now receive thin gauge sheet produced in-house.

“It’s yet another example of how we are closing the loop,” Patric remarks. “Nefab’s Dallas operation is very focused on electronics, datacom, and cloud solutions, so it’s a very nice complementary piece to PolyFlex, and the two work well together now that they are within the same group.”

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF INNOVATION

Backed by a uniquely global engineering community, Nefab continues to push the boundaries of innovation in the highly engineered packaging solutions space.

For instance, the organisation is currently playing a key role in the electric vehicle battery market.

“I really think we have led the charge in EV from a returnable plastics standpoint,” Darrell notes. “Equally, from a hazardous goods perspective, Nefab has interacted with almost every one of the major players in the US and globally, packaging those products for one-off shipments or as part of a returnable loop. We’ve worked on those projects from start to finish.”

Nefab’s global presence and international reach is also proving beneficial for clients moving into new regions or returning to former locations.

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“More companies are embracing a stronger focus on US manufacturing at present,” Patric reports. “We know and work with customers in many regions around the world, so if they are looking into the US market, for example, it is very easy for us to smooth out their journey and help them understand the local needs of US customers.”

Strengthened by PolyFlex, Nefab will remain highly active in the automotive industry going forward. To do so, the organisation can lean on stateof-the-art facilities in Grand Blanc and Wixom, Michigan.

Opened in 2024, Grand Blanc is a cutting-edge tooling and R&D facility. More recently, the opening of the Wixom facility added five new injection moulding machines to Nefab’s portfolio.

“Lithium-ion battery trends have led to products getting larger,” Darrell comments, “so Wixom’s five additional injection moulding machines – the largest being a 2,600-tonne unit – will help deal with this trend.

“We have to stay flexible because the market is always changing. There was a huge push for EV a few years ago, but that has since dropped off and demand for internal combustion and hybrid has risen. We are always ready to adapt to those shifts.”

From the automotive sector to the agriculture industry, strengthened by the acquisition of PolyFlex, Nefab is set to more than triple its business over the next five to ten years, with a particular focus on AI and data centres. All the while, the company’s sustainable approach helps to reduce costs and mitigate environmental impact, making Nefab a thoroughly modern, solutions-focused packaging and logistics partner.

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“Sustainability is an important, inbuilt part of what we do,” Patric asserts. “As our slogan ‘Saving Resources’ indicates, we work with customers on highly engineered, returnable, reusable, sustainable solutions.”

As Patric suggests, unlike many modern businesses, sustainability is not a trend for Nefab, it is an innate feature of the company’s work – and one that united it and PolyFlex even before they worked in concert. As such, by focusing on the high-quality output that has long defined it, Nefab will continue to lead the way on modern packaging solutions.

“Ultimately, engineering is the lifeblood of Nefab, and that is what makes us great,” Darrell concludes. “We’ve invested a lot in engineering and engineering resources over the years, including better ways to find value streams in the recycling industry and new ways to increase recycled content in our products.

“This can be a volatile industry at times, but our focus on engineering continues to guide us. Bolstered by our years of experience, we remain passionate about innovation and embrace new ideas and technologies that will further our mission.”

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