But also desiring to give customers and employees a pleasant experience inside the plant, the team that designed the facility envisioned a place where bright colors and bold graphics would serve as a backdrop for the more practical aspects of Alpha’s packaging operations.
The result is a clean manufacturing plant designed for efficient production of plastic packaging, but which also resembles a futuristic movie-set version of what modern production facilities could include. The company also provides contract-packaging services, including display assembly, and warehousing capabilities.
Though it’s difficult to determine whether Alpha’s efforts to create an aesthetically pleasing environment have directly increased the number of bottles ordered from the facility, the company believes the building’s appearance has positively impacted the impressions of customers and prospects. Plant managers say the design has helped them attract and retain highly qualified employees, in turn enabling them to begin 24/7 manufacturing ahead of schedule to meet growing demand in the Southeastern United States.
Plant manager Mark Kopp cites another reasons why Alpha invested time and effort to create a showplace for its new operations. “Many of the bottles we make at this plant are sold to the most discriminating personal care manufacturers in the world, and our attention to the visual details is one way to demonstrate we are more than just a manufacturer of commodity products,” Kopp says.
The massive banners are aesthetically appealing and educational amid the bright yellow walls and blue floor. Banners feature white packer-style bottles with large blue letters. A casual observer might simply believe that each product line is named “T,” “I,” “H,” and so on, but anyone who makes bottles or specifies them for stringent pharmaceutical applicants will recognize that the banners show the details of neck dimensions that Alpha replicates on its production lines.
Sixteen banners have been installed thus far, ranging in size from 4’ x 10’ to 16’ x 24’.
