Inteplast Case Study

Background

Table of Contents

Founded in 1991, Inteplast Group is the largest manufacturer of integrated plastics in North America, offering a wide variety of quality products. Headquartered in Livingston, New Jersey, Inteplast Group maintains three divisions-AmTopp, Integrated Bagging Systems (IBS) and World-Pak-covering a full range of customer needs. The company provides biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) and stretch-wrap films; plastic concentrates and compounds; grocery, merchandise, and garment bags; trash can liners and institutional products; fluted and corrugated-plastic sheets; XF cross-laminated films; and the TUF board® line of synthetic wood products.

Today, Inteplast is an independent company and one of America's leading manufacturer's of plastics products for a wide variety of industries. Inteplast has achieved astounding growth reaching $7.5 billion in 2005. From its' massive 700-acre, nine plant, site in Lolita, Texas, Inteplast distributes their products throughout the America's. The Inteplast plants are the largest of their kind in the world, with capacity to produce in excess of 1.5 billion pounds of product annually, and are all ISO 9002 registered.

Inteplast operates three divisions producing a wide range of plastics products for the industrial/food packaging, home construction, household, and supermarket industries.

• AmTopp: produces polypropylene film, stretch wrap, and plastic concentrates.
• World-Pak: produces fluted boards, PVC sheets and foam, and cross-laminated film.
• Integrated Bagging Systems: produces T-shirt bags, trash can liners, produce bags, and industrial/food packaging.

In early 2004, Inteplast recognized inefficiencies in the company's existing supply chain process. The increasing number of customer orders requiring less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments (Exhibit A) resulted in longer lead times, higher transportation costs, and excessive damage. It also resulted in disjointed communication between various participants in the supply chain process, including Inteplast's marketing, shipping, traffic, and customers.

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