Fortis Solutions Group CEO John Wynne discusses the company’s acquisition strategy with North America editor Chelsea McDougall.

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VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, January 14, 2020—Fortis Solutions Group LLC, a portfolio company of Main Post Partners and a leading provider of labels, flexible packaging, shrink sleeves, cartons, and applicators, is pleased to announce that their flexible packaging and label facility in Merced, CA received certification as a Sustainable Green Printer (SGP) from the third-party organization the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership.

Fortis President and CEO John O. Wynne, Jr. commented, “I am incredibly proud of our Merced team for achieving this notable recognition. The SGP certification validates our commitment, both internally and externally, to providing innovative and differentiating sustainable solutions.”

SGP certification takes into account the entire print facility, its process, product, and social areas. SGP certification elevates a printer into an elite group of top sustainable printers, recognized by print buyers and the printing industry. SGP certification is supported by industry associations, including the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) and the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI.)

“Sustainability has been a core value of our company for many years,” observes Fortis President of Flexible Packaging, David Bankson, “The SGP has done a terrific job developing a challenging yet attainable standard driven by data and real-world solutions to the challenges we face as a packaging printer.  We are excited to join the SGP as a certified printer and, I’m proud of the commitment to sustainability our team practices that allowed us to achieve this.”

As a certified SGP printer, Fortis is committed to exceeding sustainability targets by reducing waste, conserving energy, sourcing sustainable materials, creating a safe workplace, continuous improvement, and lowering our carbon footprint. Each year sustainability projects are identified and tracked to document areas of improvement; an audit by the third-party certification organization occurs every two years.

About Fortis Solutions Group

At Fortis Solutions Group, we provide a differentiated approach giving our customers a powerful advantage in the marketplace through industry leading lead times, quality control, color management and solutions-oriented approaches. We deliver a breadth of product offerings utilizing our outstanding flexographic, offset and digital printing capabilities. These offerings include pressure sensitive and shrink sleeve labels, multi-ply coupon and flexible packaging printing, extended booklet printing, pouches, folding cartons, label applicators and variable data printing. Headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA, the company also has manufacturing and sales offices in Austin, TX, Catoosa, OK, Ellington, CT, Flowery Branch, GA, High Point, NC, Kansas City, MO, Lewisville, TX, Memphis, TN, Merced, CA, Napa, CA, Orem, UT, West Chester, OH and Wixom, MI.

About Main Post Partners

Main Post Partners is a private equity investment firm focused on investing in proven growth companies across the consumer value chain. Main Post Partners invests in both majority and minority positions primarily in first institutional capital situations where founders, entrepreneurs and management teams are looking for an experienced partner to help build their companies to full potential. With a “Partnership, not Ownership” approach, Main Post Partners works closely with a network of successful executives to provide operational and strategic support to its management partners. Main Post Partners was named to Inc.’s list of The 50 Best Private Equity Firms for Entrepreneurs.

About the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership

The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) is a non-profit organization that certifies printing facilities’ sustainability best practices, including and beyond regulatory compliance. SGP advocates best practices and innovation among print community stakeholders, aligning the printing industry and its customers in the pursuit of a more accountable sustainable supply chain.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Fortis Solutions Group LLC, a portfolio company of Main Post Partners, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Kala Packaging.

Kala Packaging, based in Orem UT, is a leading printer of pressure sensitive labels and flexible packaging. Offering variable content printing, anti-counterfeit and security solutions, and food safe flexible packaging including pouches, Kala serves the food and beverage, health and beauty and nutraceutical end-markets.

Fortis President and CEO John O. Wynne, Jr. commented, “With its fleet of digital presses and top tier flexographic printing technology, Maui Chai and the Kala team have established a national presence in the quick turn labels and flexible packaging markets. We are fortunate to join forces with such an outstanding team and are excited to further the value-added offerings we provide.”

Kala President and CEO Maui Chai added, “While technology has always been an important characteristic of our ethos, supporting our customers as a vital extension of their operation is a foundational principle at Kala.  Fortis understands the importance of these relationships and will persist in the continual removal of industry barriers that our customers have enjoyed with Kala over the past eighteen years.  The comprehensive abilities Fortis flows into this partnership complements Kala’s capability inimitably.”

Employing over 850 employees across fourteen sites, Fortis intends to continue its pursuit of attractive acquisitions to further the breadth of product offerings and locations which can serve its customer base.

For more information, or to contact a sales representative to learn more about how Fortis can make a difference for you, please call 1-844-FSG-LBLS or visit www.FortisSolutionsGroup.com.

About Fortis Solutions Group
At Fortis Solutions Group, we provide a differentiated approach giving our customers a powerful advantage in the marketplace through industry leading lead times, quality control, color management and solutions-oriented approaches. We deliver a breadth of product offerings utilizing our outstanding flexographic, offset and digital printing capabilities. These offerings include pressure sensitive and shrink sleeve labels, multi-ply coupon and flexible packaging printing, extended booklet printing, pouches, folding cartons, label applicators and variable data printing. Headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA, the company also has manufacturing and sales offices in Austin, TX, Catoosa, OK, Ellington, CT, Flowery Branch, GA, Fort Worth, TX, High Point, NC, Kansas City, MO, Lewisville, TX, Memphis, TN, Merced, CA, Orem, UT, West Chester, OH and Wixom, MI.

About Main Post Partners
Main Post Partners is a private equity investment firm focused on investing in proven growth companies across the consumer value chain. Main Post Partners invests in both majority and minority positions primarily in first institutional capital situations where founders, entrepreneurs and management teams are looking for an experienced partner to help build their companies to full potential. With a “Partnership, not Ownership” approach, Main Post Partners works closely with a network of successful executives to provide operational and strategic support to its management partners. Main Post Partners was named to Inc.’s list of The 50 Best Private Equity Firms for Entrepreneurs.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Chris Tofalli Public Relations, LLC | Chris Tofalli (914)834-4334 | chris@tofallipr.com

As you’re painfully aware, nothing about 2020 onwards has been normal. But it hasn’t been all bad, either. Despite a pandemic, people are still thinking about ways to improve themselves and the planet so that the new “normal” will be healthier, happier, and more sustainable. One of the ways they’re achieving this goal is by becoming more conscious shoppers — starting with choosing products that come in more environmentally friendly packaging. What does that look like? It can be as simple as a wash-off label.

North Americans produce 3.1 million tons of PET each year, according to the PET Resin Association (PETRA). If properly recycled, those products (i.e., water bottles, clam shell containers, shampoo bottles) can be broken down to create new items, thus extending the plastic’s life cycle and perpetuating the circular economy. It’s the good old “reduce, reuse, recycle” saying in action. Overall, the process uses fewer carbon emissions than if you were to create materials from virgin plastics, so brands and consumers alike can feel good knowing that they’re making decisions that have a direct impact on the environment.

Once you toss out your used PET items to materials recovery facilities, they’re sorted, washed, and then processed. The PET is broken down into flakes before it becomes pelletized and melted into new materials. The clam shell container that once held your blueberries can go on to become a plastic water bottle, thus reducing carbon emissions by eliminating the need to create more virgin plastics.

Because PET packaging is lauded for its clarity and food-grade safe CO2 barrier protection, the recycled PET flakes should be clean and clear. However, sometimes, standard labels remain connected to the plastic and contaminate the recycling stream, causing discoloration and lower-quality PET flakes that cannot always be reused and can wind up in landfills. That’s where wash-off labels come into play.

At Fortis Solutions, our wash-off labels are created with consumer and planetary health in mind. While standard pressure-sensitive labels can contaminate the PET recyclability stream with adhesives and inks, Fortis Solutions Group’s RENEW™ pressure-sensitive labels separate cleanly during the water bath stage at the recycler by using an innovative water-based adhesive that’s compliant with the Association of Plastic Recyclers’ (APR) highest standards. Brands interested in further perpetuating the circular economy can also feel good knowing our labels are created with a 90% post-consumer recycled content PET liner.

There’s no need to sacrifice style to be sustainable, either. You can still create eye-catching graphics that will make your brand stand out on store shelves, be they virtual or in a brick-and-mortar store. Our labels are available in clear and white film face materials, all of which are customizable to fit your brand’s needs and aesthetic.

Wash-off labels also give brands an opportunity to market themselves as change-makers. A Futerra survey conducted in 2018 found that 88% of respondents wanted brands to help them live more environmentally friendly and ethical lifestyles. Research from Nielsen suggests a growing number of shoppers — 38% as of 2017 — are willing to pay more for products that come in sustainable packages, too. That percentage is likely to rise as more Millennials choose brands and products that more closely align with their personal values.

Still, in today’s fast-paced society, it might be too much to expect that consumers are going to fully vet products and companies before making their purchases in stores and online. Brands can eliminate the guesswork by advertising their sustainable practices directly on their products with wash-off How2Recycle labels.

More than just informative, these labels make a statement that brands are committed to doing their part to reduce carbon emissions, reduce landfill waste, limit the amount of virgin plastics flooding the market, and perpetuate the circular economy.

Renew Wash Off labels and How2Recycle make it easy for consumers to realize a circular plastic economy.

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Out with the old, in with the new? Not so fast. As more consumers are opting for sustainable goods, repurposing is having a major moment. Clothing brands like H&M and Patagonia are revolutionizing the fashion industry by using recycled materials to create new, trendy products. Shows like Flea Market Flip are driving people to thrift shops in search of used goods that they can repurpose into their next coffee table or bedside lamp. And now, brands are seeing the value in using sustainable packaging, more specifically, flexible packaging made out of post-consumer recycled materials (PCR).

Flexible packaging already touts sustainability benefits. It takes fewer natural resources, such as water and energy, to create flexible packaging than to make heavier, bulkier materials. It’s easier to ship flexible packages, such as stand-up pouches, too, since they are lightweight and compact. And now, flexible packaging manufacturers are hoping to extend the environmental benefits by creating packaging using recycled materials, while still maintaining superb product protection, containment, and convenience.

What is PCR?

PCR packaging is created by using recycled plastics, such as rigid plastic water, juice, and milk containers. Once gathered, these materials go through a multi-step process in which they’re sorted, washed, ground, melted, and pelletized.

You may already have an idea of what the final result looks like; after all, you’ve seen how paper towels or cardboard boxes made out of recycled materials look: grainy, drab, boring. But advancements in technology have made PCR flexible packaging nearly indistinguishable from packaging made with brand-new materials.

Take, for example, Justin’s Nut Butter Covered Nuts. In 2019, the company used 25% PCR materials to create stand-up pouches; each pouch contains three ounces of nuts. Like its other products, the result is beautiful, boasting a bright, shiny white exterior with no visible blemishes. What’s even more impressive is that the quality didn’t suffer at all; in fact, it offered the same quality product protection as the packages made with virgin polymers. It’s even FDA-approved.

But flexible packaging made with post-consumer recyclables doesn’t just look good; it performs well, too. Thanks to technological advancements, the material is high strength and offers superior oxygen and moisture barriers. It’s also excellent for large volume, gusseted zippered pouches, and provides top-notch seal strength, keeping products fresh. The material is also suitable for gas flush applications, giving brands a variety of options to serve their specific needs.

Is it safe?

The words “previously used” might conjure up several images for you: secondhand clothing from a hippie thrift store that reeks of mothballs, scuffed soccer cleats from your childhood, or dog-eared pages in a tattered paperback. You wouldn’t want to eat off of these things, let alone store food or cosmetics in them. Rest assured, though, that recycled multi-layer flexible packages are FDA-approved and food-safe.

The FDA is careful in considering each material on a case by case basis, evaluating whether it is fit for contact with food or drink. If the materials are approved, the FDA then issues an informal notice, called a Letter of No Objection, to the company.

In addition to complying with the FDA direct food contact and OSHA Hazardous materials regulations, Fortis Solutions also ensures that each material is BPA-free. We also comply with California’s Toxics in Packaging Laws, and California’s Proposition 65 Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act.

What are the benefits?

Consumer attitudes are shifting in favor of more sustainable products and packaging as the threat of climate change becomes more urgent. A recent survey from Accenture, which surveyed 6,000 people from three continents, found that the majority of respondents (72%) said that they’re buying more sustainable goods now than they had five years prior. Even more respondents, 81%, said that they planned on shopping more sustainably in the next five years.

As consumers continue to gravitate toward sustainable items, brands will need to follow suit. Many already are. Nearly 70% of respondents to Packaging Digest’s 2017 Sustainable Packaging Study said that their packaging strategy involved using recycled materials. Clearly, they’ve recognized the value in meeting customer expectations.

Increasing demand from consumers is just one money-related benefit. Using recycled materials can ultimately be more cost-efficient for brands because it reduces the number of virgin materials. We can assume that existing plastics will become even more affordable and easier to come by as the demand from manufacturers increases over time.

Profits and savings aren’t the only benefits, of course. There’s also the health of the planet. In 2016, people purchased 480 billion plastic water bottles globally, yet not even half of those bottles are recycled, Eco Watch reports. The U.S. is a huge contributor, recycling only about 23% of the 50 billion bottles we purchased. By using post-consumer waste in new packaging materials, businesses are helping keep plastics out of landfills and reducing pollution. They’re also saving energy and resources since repurposing recycled materials requires fewer fossil fuels than brand-new materials.

Brands can maximize their environmental impacts by going beyond the plastics. Fortis Solutions Group uses renewable water-based inks and solvent-free adhesives in its sustainable packaging. Additionally, we use a process that doesn’t require the use of greenhouse gas emissions. Each of these steps plays a vital role in reducing our—and by extension, our clients’—carbon footprint.

Why now?

The recycling chain is dependent on consumer demand. An increase in recycling creates a higher volume of available materials; an influx of recycled plastics provides materials recovery facilities (MRFs) with a reason to monetize recycled products; competitive pricing from MRFs encourages companies to use recycled materials in their packaging; consumers buy sustainably packaged products; the cycle continues.

It sounds like a simple solution, but the fact is, not every company has gotten onboard. Now is the perfect time for brands to set themselves apart as leaders in the sustainability movement by incorporating PCR flexible packaging into their product lines. The transition can be small, starting with just one product. But over time, the impact will be substantial for the planet, people, and businesses alike.

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