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Arthur "Art" Lloyd Gustafson, who is widely considered to be a leading pioneer in the automatic heat-seal and thermoforming industry, has died at the age of 85.
Art was born July 12, 1938, to Harold J. and Hilma M. (Salvesen) Gustafson in Oak Park, Illinois. He never finished high school, but as a young man, he discovered his natural talent for design and innovation working on his family’s farm in Illinois. He joined Plastofilm Industries in Wheaton, Illinois, in 1954, starting in the die shop and subsequently moving up the engineering and management ladder.
In 1961, at age 23, Art founded his first business, Alloyd Packaging, in his garage, where he developed his own equipment line. As a one-man operation, he designed, tooled, fabricated, and then, in 1966, introduced his revolutionary six-station rotary machine, the Alloyd Model 6SCBE. It became the standard of the industry and still is in use all over the world.
As it grew, Art moved his business to a chicken coop on his brother's farm, then to an industrial building in West Chicago, and finally to the old Cyclone Fence industrial building in DeKalb, Illinois, where he employed over 300 people. A self-taught engineer, Art designed and built heat-seal packaging machinery. He expanded his business to include the design and manufacturing of blister and clamshell packages and the thermoforming machinery used to form them. Alloyd Packaging expanded to include manufacturing locations in City of Industry, California, and Spartanburg, South Carolina.
In 1989, Art "retired" and sold Alloyd Packaging (Alloyd now operates as a division of Sonoco Corporation). He spent the next couple years farming soybeans in Elgin, Illinois, but grew restless, and in 1995, Art founded Algus Packaging. His goal was to provide his customers with the most efficient and best performing machines and plastic products.
He bought the Del Monte industrial complex in DeKalb, Illinois, and then a second building in DeKalb, again providing hundreds of people with jobs and career opportunities. He designed and built state-of-the-“Art" heat-seal machinery, thermoformers, and blister and clamshell packages for countless products seen on store shelves everywhere.
Art donated one of his custom Algus heat-seal machines to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, where it continues to be on display in the Toymaker 3000 exhibit on the main floor of the museum.
Art is survived by his wife Karen Joy (Kupfer); his daughters Joy Elane (Jason) Walsh of Las Vegas, NV, and Jill Nadine Gustafson of St. Charles, IL; grandchildren Rhiannon (Robert) Schulman, Zachary and Calvin Bauer; and great-grandchildren Lillian and Philip Schulman.
Visitation begins at 9 a.m. and memorial service is at 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 13, 2024, at Chapelstreet Church, 2300 South St. in Geneva, IL, and is open to the public.
