A new 10,000 square foot expansion underway at their Innisfil manufacturing facility is the latest good news from Tempo Flexible Packaging, the award-winning local company that specializes in custom printed and sustainably minded packaging products for a variety of North American companies.
While the pandemic saw many Canadian companies contract or pivot their operations to ride out the economic uncertainties, Tempo Flexible Packaging was recognized as an essential manufacturer given its widespread partnerships throughout the North American supply chain. As a result, the company has emerged from the pandemic and is looking to the future with the current expansion of their 100,000 square foot, vertically integrated manufacturing facility.
“Right now we’re probably looking at January to complete the expansion,” said Deidre McCloskey, Director of People and Culture at the Industrial Park Road facility. “The expansion was delayed due to supply chain issues but we’re happy to be moving forward and making room for additional machinery to help with the volume of business coming in. We’re really flourishing right now and that’s exciting.”
The continued growth of the company is great news for owners Lee-Anne and Leonardo Giglio, daughter and son of co-founder and former President of Tempo Flexible Packaging, Joseph Giglio, who helped found the company 52 years ago. However, it’s equally great news for the local economy according to McCloskey.
“We will be looking to expand our labour force once the facility expansion is complete,” she said. “All of our recruiting needs right now are for new positions to keep up with the volume. This is not the result of labour turnover. In fact, we have high retention rates at Tempo. The majority of our employee base has been here 10 plus years, with many here at least 30 plus years.”
McCloskey said one of the great things about Tempo is the multi-generational mix of people who make up the team.
“We have all generations working here. We have the traditionalist generation, the Boomers, the Gen-X, the Millennials and Gen-Z which is very exciting. We’ve also been very welcoming to the Ukraine community, opening the door for new people coming to Canada. We are a very community-based organization and everyone is very connected. Everyone has a mutual respect for one another.”
With many of its customers across North America involved in the food industry, Tempo Flexible Packaging is always looking for unique and innovative ways to find packaging solutions for new products. McCloskey said the company is very aware of the challenges inherent in designing functional packaging that also satisfies concerns for greener industrial manufacturing.
“We’re very focused on sustainability. We want to ensure there is minimal waste on site and that our products are recyclable or sustainable in some way. With all our product creation we’re really working to ensure we can present new and different options to customers so they have a variety of functional and innovative ideas to choose from.”
Those interested in joining the labour force can find out more information on the Tempo Flexible Packaging website.