June 28, 2002

Package testing company ensures safe shipping

LONGMONT — Before Coors Brewing Co. ships beer across the country or Valleylab Inc. releases a new medical device, they take their products to Advanced Packaging Technology.

Advanced, a unit of Louisville-based Storage Technology Corp., tests products for climate changes as well as shock and vibration during shipping. Companies requesting Advanced’s rigorous series of tests want to ensure their products can handle any transportation difficulties.

Steve Kajewski, Advanced’s Longmont manager, said his company’s main customers are businesses involved in data processing, computers, food, beverages and medical equipment.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Ways to thank a caregiver

If you have a caregiver or know someone who has been serving as a primary caregiver, March 3rd is the day to reach out and show them how much they are valued!

“We test everything from disk drives to aerospace components,” he said. “Every product that StorageTek makes goes through the lab. It’s 100 percent tested. Outside customers do some of their own testing and bring what they can’t test to us.”

Kajewski said products tested include disk drives, water coolers, humidifiers, seeds, frozen food for Hot Pockets, fuel lines for jet fighters and Coors beer.

Dennis Hidalgo, manager of the material testing lab at Coors in Golden, said Advanced tests Coors’ cans, bottles, cartons and carriers. “They allow us to test our products before we send them to market,” he said. “We do some safety testing to make sure they will be safe for consumers.”

Hidalgo said Coors ships across the United States so it’s necessary to try to duplicate the shipping environment. Coors relies on Advanced’s vibration and climate testing to simulate conditions such as heat and humidity.

“How much abuse can the product take — like the heat — so it still stays good?” Hidalgo says. “They have a lot of the state-of-the-art equipment, and they maintain it well. Turnaround time is excellent, and they can accommodate me on short notice.”

A previous testing lab Coors used didn’t have the equipment Advanced has. “Because of the equipment, they (Advanced) won out over other labs in the area,” Hidalgo says.

Susan Ritter, staff packaging engineer for Valleylab in Boulder, said Advanced tests all of her company’s products, which include medical electronics and surgical instruments.

“We do all of our simulated transportation testing at APT,” she said. “It’s helped us a lot in terms of sending a quality product. We have to ensure (a product is) still sterile. If it’s damaged, it could injure someone in surgery.”

Ritter said Advanced checks temperature, humidity, shock and vibration in simulated transportation tests, as well as a Valleylab product’s ability to stack without crushing. If a redesign is necessary, Advanced can make suggestions. “We would never release anything that failed a transportation test,” Ritter said.

In addition to Valleylab and Coors, other local companies using Advanced for testing include Seagate Technology Inc., Maxtor Corp., Precept Technology, Custom Microwave, Convergence Solution Systems, Excelstor and Norgren. Kajewski said Advanced has about 80 customers, with the majority in Colorado.

Advanced started as a StorageTek lab in 1982 and moved to a $4.8 million, 32,000 square-foot facility in Longmont 10 years later. In 1995, StorageTek opened Advanced to outside clients, and business took off.

In 1990, Advanced employed three people, but now has 16 full-time engineers. Revenues have grown from less than $50,000 to more than $1 million.

Advanced not only tests products, but also designs protective packaging and helps companies find suppliers for packaging materials. But the majority of Advanced’s revenues still come from testing.

Kajewski attributes Advanced’s continued business growth to good customer service and good equipment.

“We take pride in giving customers fast, reliable service,” he said. “We have a wider variety of equipment than most competitive labs in the area. Most of our business is in Colorado, but we do have customers all across the country.”

LONGMONT — Before Coors Brewing Co. ships beer across the country or Valleylab Inc. releases a new medical device, they take their products to Advanced Packaging Technology.

Advanced, a unit of Louisville-based Storage Technology Corp., tests products for climate changes as well as shock and vibration during shipping. Companies requesting Advanced’s rigorous series of tests want to ensure their products can handle any transportation difficulties.

Steve Kajewski, Advanced’s Longmont manager, said his company’s main customers are businesses involved in data processing, computers, food, beverages and medical equipment.

“We test everything from disk drives to aerospace components,” he said. “Every product that StorageTek…

Christopher Wood
Christopher Wood is editor and publisher of BizWest, a regional business journal covering Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties. Wood co-founded the Northern Colorado Business Report in 1995 and served as publisher of the Boulder County Business Report until the two publications were merged to form BizWest in 2014. From 1990 to 1995, Wood served as reporter and managing editor of the Denver Business Journal. He is a Marine Corps veteran and a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder. He has won numerous awards from the Colorado Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Alliance of Area Business Publishers.
Categories:
Sign up for BizWest Daily Alerts