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Nelipak Healthcare Packaging Announces New Appointments and Investments at Americas and European Facilities

Recent Acquisitions, Facilities Expansion and Team Growth Demonstrates Further Commitment to the Global Healthcare Packaging Market

 Cranston, RI/Anaheim, CA – MD&M West, Booth #1970 (February 8, 2017) – Nelipak^® Healthcare Packaging (“Nelipak”), a global provider of custom thermoformed packaging that provides superior protection for medical devices and pharmaceuticals, continues to make significant investments to exceed the expectations of its global customers. As part of its ongoing commitment to the market, in July of 2016 the business closed on the acquisition of its sixth facility, a thermoforming company based in Juncos, Puerto Rico, which will allow Nelipak to take advantage of growth opportunities with pharmaceutical and medical OEMs in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the broader Caribbean regions. Its Costa Rican facility continues to experience growth in its business and Nelipak announced it will expand this site in 2017 as a result.

Additionally, in late August Nelipak completed construction of a new class 8 clean room at its Phoenix, AZ site for its new Sencorp Thermoform line to meet increased demand from customers in the Southwest. In Europe the company has consolidated its two Venray sites in the Netherlands, bringing together the group’s European sales, design and manufacturing into one location at its Spurkt site.

As Nelipak continues to grow and evolve as a company, it recognizes the need to invest in talent to support this growth. Mike Kelly, CEO and president, announced a series of new additions to the leadership team effective immediately:

Rolando Salas, currently general manager, Costa Rica, is being promoted to director of quality, Americas. In this newly created role, Rolando will lead the quality function for the four sites in the Americas. Rolando brings a wealth of quality experience to this new role. Prior to joining Nelipak, Rolando held quality leadership positions at DeRoyal, Vention Medical and Abbott Vascular with more than 12 years of experience as the head of quality for these medical device manufacturers.

Jose Villafane has been appointed to the role as director of operations, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica. In this newly created role, Jose will have operational responsibility for both of these regions. Jose comes to Nelipak from Essentra where he was an operations director responsible for multiple packaging manufacturing sites in Puerto Rico. Jose worked at Essentra for more than 25 years where he held positions of increasing responsibility in quality and operations during his career. In his new role, Jose will be based at Nelipak’s Juncos, Puerto Rico site, and he will report directly to CEO Mike Kelly.

Jeremy Vargas, currently production superintendent at Costa Rica, has been promoted to operations manager for Costa Rica, effective immediately. Jeremy joined Nelipak six years ago and he has been instrumental in supporting its growth in Costa Rica during his tenure.

Rafael Aponte has been appointed to the position of controller, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica, and will be responsible for the accounting and finance activities at both sites. Rafael joins Nelipak from Essentra where he supported Jose Villafane. Rafael was formerly controller of Lehigh Press and joined Essentra in 2007 as a result of the acquisition of Lehigh. He has been controller of Essentra’s Manati and Guaynabo sites. In his new role, Rafael will be based at Nelipak’s Juncos, Puerto Rico site reporting directly to Paul Hogan, Nelipak CFO, in addition to supporting Jose Vilafane.

Mike Kelly commented on the announcement, “These leadership changes are designed to improve our operational effectiveness, quality approach, and overall customer focus as Nelipak continues to grow and support our customers on a global basis.”

Nelipak is exhibiting in booth #1970 at MD&M West in Anaheim, CA from February 7-9, 2017.

About Nelipak^® Healthcare Packaging

Nelipak^® Healthcare Packaging designs, develops and manufactures custom thermoformed packaging products that provide superior protection for medical devices and pharmaceuticals.  The company offers medical trays and blisters, surgical procedure trays, pharmaceutical handling trays, custom built sealing machines, total packaging solutions and other value added services.  Some of the largest and most reputable medical device and pharmaceutical companies in the world rely on Nelipak’s 60-year history of innovation in cleanroom manufactured thermoformed medical packaging.

With facilities in Cranston, RI; Phoenix, AZ; Venray, the Netherlands; Galway, Ireland; Juncos, Puerto Rico; and San Jose, Costa Rica, and more than 600 employees worldwide, Nelipak is focused on delivering superior quality and customer experience through world class manufacturing at each of its locations. More information about Nelipak can be found at https://www.nelipak.com.

Nelipak^® Healthcare Packaging is a trade name of Nelipak^® Corporation.

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Press Contact:

Jill Colna
SVM Public Relations
401-490-9700
jill.colna@svmpr.com

 Marketing Contact:

Seán Egan
Group Marketing Manager
Nelipak Healthcare Packaging
+353-91-709-163
Sean.egan@nelipak.com