Packaging Solutions with Exceptional Customer Service

Bevcorp
Written by Jen Hocken

Bevcorp is a full-service provider of packaging equipment and parts for the beverage industry, serving customers in the carbonated soft drink, beer, water, juice, energy drink and non-carbonated sectors of the market. It is a one-stop shop that offers rotary filling equipment, blending systems, seaming equipment, container handling parts, rotary rinsers, and all the spare parts that make up these products, backed up by a keen focus on quality in both products and service.
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Bevcorp provides first rate sales and service support as well as 24-hour technical assistance to meet any and all needs of its customers. “One of the things we focus on is our unparalleled service – not only are we able to supply equipment and parts for those different areas of the line, we have service people all over the country that can fly out at a moment’s notice and are available for any kind of mechanical preventative maintenance help that is required,” says Kristen Hale, Inside Sales/Capital Equipment Manager at Bevcorp.

Founded in 1992, Bevcorp was acquired by Enprotech Corporation, an industrial equipment supplier for the automotive, steel, and beverage industries in 2002. Bevcorp expanded its product offerings in 2003 with the acquisitions of Microblend in Kennesaw, Georgia, in 2014, FCI Container Handling in Cleveland, Ohio, and again in 2018 by acquiring East Coast Seamers in Forest Hill, Maryland. It also purchased the intellectual property rights and inventory of Adcor Packaging Group’s Crown Cork and Seal filler.

By strengthening its resources in engineering and manufacturing, the company has enhanced its ability to supply the entire production line, and it is proud to state that all of its equipment is still manufactured in the United States. Bevcorp has grown steadily since that time and now has a strong international customer base, particularly in Canada, Mexico, and Australia.

The humble beginnings as a mom and pop shop with a handful of employees are long over, as Bevcorp now employs approximately 200 people. The hard working staff is its most essential asset and the company is grateful for their loyal dedication to the team and their exceptional customer service skills. “I use service as a broad term; it’s not just the technicians, it’s the service we provide as a whole company from our president down to the people in the back working in production and assembly,” says Kristen. Every individual at Bevcorp works together towards one common goal of providing expert service and industry leading production line equipment for beverages. The employees care about the focus on quality, and are keen to contribute to continued improvement in service. Their input is valued, and this kind of positive attitude makes for an excellent work environment.

In an industry as demanding as beverage manufacturing, where production speeds and volume put equipment to the test, there are bound to emergencies, and Bevcorp is accustomed to helping its customers recover. In addition to providing timely service and assistance, the company also scrutinizes the situation, and looks for ways to prevent mechanical problems in the future. It always seeks to improve the process for its customers, and the industry, through innovation and increased efficiency.

Bevcorp received the Rockwell Automation Manufacturing Safety Excellence Award in 2014, recognizing the safest manufacturing companies in the world, and especially those that promote a holistic approach to safety. It won the award because of its contoured safety guarding equipment that surrounds its machines. As stated on the Bevcorp website, the three key pillars of a comprehensive safety program are, “A strong safety culture, a formalized compliance strategy, and capital investments in technologies that help improve work safety and plant productivity.”

Supporting safety as one of its core values, Bevcorp has an extensive program that includes weekly safety huddles, with not only the manufacturing staff in attendance, but everyone in the building as well. Accidents that may have happened and near misses are discussed during the huddles to prevent future workplace incidents, both in house and on job sites. Bevcorp also works with several of its customers to help manage their safety programs and ensure that their equipment meets all requirements by using contoured guarding and other safety features.

Bevcorp seems to have a record breaking year for growth every year, and it attributes this success to its service team that gives the company a unique advantage in the market that other companies tend to avoid. “A lot of old machines are still in circulation and customers don’t have anywhere to get the parts. We corner that market by having that service side of things and it really makes a huge difference at meeting our customers’ needs which just keeps bringing customers back,” says Kristen.

No time, no tools, or no talent are the often-heard complaints from all types of manufacturing companies. No time refers to the extra time that is required for the efficient and highly variable packaging used today, no tools refers to a reliance on automation, and no talent refers to the labor shortage. The industry is being faced with a drastic change in its employee base of workers and technicians and the new generation has not had the time to become familiar with the machines and the production lines.

But these are challenges that the experts at Bevcorp are familiar with. While it can be difficult to work a situation where a customer cannot provide a lot of information about a give problem, they are always willing to invest the time searching through pictures and manuals to determine how to solve the issue, even when it’s painstaking task. “A lot of the equipment is not standard or cookie cutter; we’re not pushing out the same machine over and over again. Every customer is different, every product that they’re filling is different, and each customer has different requirements,” says Kristen.

In these challenging situations, delays are inevitable, but Bevcorp strives to mitigate this by making sure that, on the other end of the conversation, a knowledgeable staff member with effective communication and deductive skills is there to give dedicated support.

Bevcorp is capable of servicing full production lines with expertise, providing customers the opportunity to fulfill their blending, handing, filling, and seaming needs all at one time through one reliable company. This is advantageous to both the customer and Bevcorp as a working relationship is established that leads to repeat business.

While beverage companies are the main customers of Bevcorp, it also has customers in the food industry, particularly within the handling and seaming divisions. It hopes to eventually span out into household goods products and include more diversification in the future.

With that future in mind, Bevcorp continuously strives to stay on top of new technologies that are changing the industry and follows the market trends to ensure it stays up-to-date on how to accommodate its customers’ needs. It is currently working on streamlining its processes and making them as efficient as possible to keep costs down and allow its customers to remain competitive.

Last year, Bevcorp created a committee to focus on community outreach called Get Involved. It has found numerous ways to give back such as sponsoring a 5K walk in Willoughby, OH and another walk for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Over Christmas, all the employees donated money to help support 17 families residing in a women’s shelter during the holidays. One if its first steps into community involvement was to provide school supplies for a local catholic school – an endeavor that was particularly enjoyable, since it became a competition among the different departments, and the results surpassed all expectations. There are also many animal lovers within the company who have organized programs for the local shelters, and the company is now planning to offer volunteering hours available at the local food bank. Bevcorp looks forward to finding more ways to get involved and give back to the community.

The mission of Bevcorp is to “be a world‐class service organization to the beverage industry by delivering an unrivaled partner experience for those we serve through superior technical expertise combined with a passionate dedication to satisfying our customers’ needs.” While Bevcorp might not match the massive output of the large global manufacturers of packaging equipment and machines, its service capabilities and individual attention far outweigh what those giants can provide.

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