July 22, 2026

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BW Packaging Team Member Newsletter

Your monthly source for updates, spotlights, and progress across BW Packaging.

For internal use only – do not forward.

This Month at BW Packaging

In this edition, you’ll find:

Message from BW Packaging President, Rachana Creeth
Investing in Our Capabilities: Cuyahoga Falls Machine Shop
Sales & Commercial Recognition
Innovation Spotlight: Extending Our Flexible Portfolio
Now Live: The New BW Packaging Website
Every Voice Matters: Survey Complete, Analysis Underway
Market News: Competitor & Industry Trends

Message from BW Packaging President, Rachana Creeth

Team,

It’s been a great year so far. We’ve learned a lot as we have come together as One Packaging, delivered value for our customers, and earned our first WE incentive payout at mid-year … a milestone every one of you helped make happen.

Now comes the part that matters most: the finish. A strong Q4 is what turns a good year into a record year, and a record year is what puts us in position to earn our next WE payout. The work ahead is significant, but so is the opportunity in front of us.

Let’s stay disciplined, keep the customer at the center, and finish strong together.

With appreciation,

Rachana Creeth

President, BW Packaging

Investing in Our Capabilities: Cuyahoga Falls Machine Shop

Our Cuyahoga Falls, OH facility is welcoming a significant addition to its machine shop: five new CNC machining centers, representing a $600,000+ capital investment, the largest commitment to machining capability at the site in decades.

The incoming equipment includes one Mazak QTU-250M, two Mazak QT-Ez 8M KY turning centers, and two Okuma GENOS L250II-E x500 lathes. All five have been purchased, with the final units expected on the floor in July/August.

This investment modernizes in-house machining capacity, supports the Chucks & Rolls cell, and improves our ability to deliver quality tooling to customers faster. It reflects a long-term commitment to the seamer product line, and to the people and capabilities in Cuyahoga Falls, positioning the site well for the work ahead.

A special thank-you to Chris Kutzer for finding some excellent machines, and to everyone who helped bring this investment across the finish line.

Okuma machine photo

Interested in learning more? Please email Alex Buenger

Sales & Commercial Recognition

Commercial Momentum: Filling the Funnel

Our commercial engine kept building through June, with strong pipeline creation across the organization:

Cross-selling: 26 new leads created in June, adding $7.4M to the pipeline as part of $144M in open cross-selling opportunities across 137 deals, with $19M at 70%+ probability.

A&I: $251M across 85 opportunities opened since the start of Unleashed. The total pipeline is now $400M+.

Regional teams delivered standout wins:

EMEA & APAC posted their best month and best quarter of FY26, entering Q4 with strong momentum, headlined by our first A&I project, Premier Foods ($5.1M) (James Keenlyside and Tom Miller), five seamer wins (Valeo x2, Nestlé Dieppe, Indus Coffee, and OKF in APAC), and a newly received Pringles PO.

LATAM landed $2.3M in cross-selling wins across 6 deals (2 new customers) and opened new-customer orders in Brazil, Ecuador, and Jamaica. Thank you to Chris Mason and Danny Fansher for their customer focus, working the holiday and weekend to deliver on the Soprole (Chile) project.

Summer Surge — Week 6 Update

The Summer Surge competition is heating up! A few highlights from Week 6:

Team Rob Toolen remains in the top spot for the fourth straight update, continuing to lead on orders at 147% of goal. That is strong performance and a clear pace-setter for the field.

The biggest movement this week came from Team Gilles Demare, climbing two spots into 2nd, and Team Thierry Kostuch, surging four spots into 3rd. The top three spots are now fully owned by EMEA.

Team Adam Brandt remains close behind in 4th, pacing above goal in both orders and opportunity creation.

Other positive moves this week belonged to Team De Ridder, Team Edwards, Team Hajec, Team Celli, and Team Zatti.

Enterprise Selling in Action: Conagra

A great example of our Enterprise selling team making a difference: while in Reno for a meeting with Pacific Cheese, Margaret Valinski took the initiative to visit additional customers, getting into a Conagra popcorn-packaging site. Over the course of her visit she identified multiple upgrade opportunities, potentially close to $500K if all proceed, which we are now quoting. Great job, Margaret, and thank you for showing what enterprise selling looks like in practice.

Celebrating Our Chairman’s Club Winners

BW Packaging congratulates our Chairman’s Club sales winners, who recently celebrated in Aspen, CO. This recognition honors our top commercial sales executives and directors – not just by orders booked, but by the effort, adherence to standards, and attitude they show up with every day — and sets the bar we want every rep to strive to achieve. Congratulations to this year’s winners!

Pictured: Phil Williams, Kerrie Thompson, Shawn Edwards, Steve Shellenbaum, Steve Kaye, Al Leach, Jason Cooney, Dan Thompson, Jim Krapes, Martin Fahy, Jean-Sebastien Moglia, and Benjamin Bihan.

Not Pictured: Mike Mottice

Innovation Spotlight: Extending Our Flexible Portfolio

BW Packaging Innovation is extending the reach of our Flexible portfolio through a series of platform advancements, from new flow-wrapping machines opening doors in cheese and wipes, to next-generation sealing technology expanding across the VFFS lineup. Together, these programs deepen customer partnerships and reinforce our ability to turn engineering breakthroughs into commercial wins.

Hayssen X850: Proven Performance, New Market

The X850 adapts a recent cheese-market innovation for the wipes market, where hermetic seals at high speed are equally critical. The beta machine is live at Pacon, wrapping Clorox 9-count packs, and hit the ground running the day after install, even helping Pacon catch up on a late order. The team has already identified targeted improvements, with continued testing at Pacon serving as a vital proving ground ahead of a high-stakes install at Stryker next year, where two lines are scheduled.

Hayssen X650: Full Cheese Market Coverage

Designed for cheese-industry customers who need the seal integrity and hygienics of the X850 but not its higher speed, the X650 is completing final in-house testing in Nottingham. From there it travels to Duncan, SC for two weeks of focused training before beginning its beta trial at Pacific Cheese in August.

QualiSeal Plus: expanding across VFFS

Building on early success on the CM Verus, QualiSeal Plus is expanding to the ISB and Ultima platforms. Using higher pressure and removable inserts, it delivers reliable seals without the hassle of Teflon tape — available as both a new-equipment option and an aftermarket upgrade. The team is targeting an unveil at PACK EXPO and is actively identifying early adopters.

Together, the X850, X650, and QualiSeal Plus show how our Innovation Team continues to provide solutions across categories and customer needs — creating new revenue pathways, deepening trust with strategic partners, and strengthening our position as a long-term innovation leader.

Interested in learning more? Please email Erik Klatt

Now Live: The New BW Packaging Website

The new BW Packaging website (bwpackaging.com) is now live! This launch is an important step forward as one unified BW Packaging – bringing our brands, solutions, and expertise together into a single, more seamless digital experience for our customers.

As the site debuts, there are two easy ways to help:

Share feedback. Extensive testing is complete, but there’s always room to improve. Let us know if something isn’t working, if content looks inaccurate or missing, or if you have ideas to improve navigation and the user experience.
Drive engagement on LinkedIn. As we share launch posts across our BW Packaging channels, take a moment to like, comment, share, or repost from your own accounts.

This milestone marks another key step toward a stronger, more cohesive One BW Packaging presence. Thank you to every team member who made it possible.

Questions or feedback? Please email Heidi Wenninger

Every Voice Matters: Survey Complete, Analysis Underway

Thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s Every Voice Matters (EVM) assessment. The survey is now complete, and the level of engagement across Packaging reflects our commitment to a culture where every voice truly matters.

As leaders reminded us during the launch, feedback only matters if it leads to action, and we are committed to acting. Chapman & Co. is now finishing its analysis of the results, with findings and planned actions to be shared in Q4.

Market News: Competitor & Industry Trends

Competitive Intel: Smucker’s Hostess Bet Sours

Roughly three years after acquiring Hostess, a move that gave the jam-and-jelly maker entry into a $65 billion snacks market, the deal is creating challenges for J.M. Smucker. Reporting points to softening demand for sweet snacks as a key challenge weighing on the acquisition’s payoff.

Why it matters to BW Packaging: Shifting snacking demand reshapes where food manufacturers invest, influencing SKU mix, line reconfiguration, and packaging strategy. Staying close to these consumer trends helps us anticipate where equipment and upgrade opportunities will emerge.

Pet Food: A Healthy Market Shifting Toward Flexible Packaging

An internal market study led by Thomas Saliou and Madeline DuCharme highlights pet food as an attractive, growing market (~5% CAGR), with demand concentrated in North America and EMEA and sustained investment from global leaders. A key structural shift is underway: consumer convenience is driving a move from cans toward flexible packaging, with stand-up pouches emerging as the primary growth platform.

Why it matters to BW Packaging: The Pet food industry remains a solid growth market that can provide expansion potential for BW Packaging equipment.

Read the full study: Pet Food Market — 2026 New Equipment Sales Dynamic

New: BW Packaging Market Research Site

Looking for market intelligence? Our team has launched a new BW Packaging Market Research site, a single, up-to-date home for Market Intelligence Documents and Market Intelligence Tools, including the external reports featured in recent newsletters. Bookmark it as your go-to resource, and reach out to Thomas Saliou or Madeline DuCharme with questions or suggestions.

Explore it here: BW Packaging Market Research (SharePoint)

Questions?

Do you have questions, feedback or ideas you'd like to share? Please send us an email at unleashed.questions@bwpackaging.com