Berry Plastics

Berry Plastics has a plant in Lawrence, so our materials class group went to check it out. While main headquarters, as well as R&D are located in Indiana, this particular site focuses on drinking cups and food packaging. On a yearly average, Berry Plastics will go through 2.5 billion pounds of plastic resin (1.1 million metric tons) to manufacture all products.  It is also the largest producer of duct-tape.  They also focus on a few specialty items such as specific types of film.

The plant utilizes eight thermoform machines as well as twenty-one injection molding machines.  The thermoform machines at Berry primarily manufacture drinking cups and their respective lids.  Such products are typically produced for food companies such as McDonalds, Burger King, and TacoBell.

What amazed me was how much is produced on any day.  The average day yields around 1.5 million drinking cups, as well as lids.  The thermoform machines are what makes this happen; they are able to produce an estimated 50-75 cups per mold.  With a seven second manufacturing time, it is understandable how they are able to produce these products on such a large scale.

I wish we were able to take pictures, I am certain you would be impressed as well.