Technical Help in Engineering and Marketing (T.H.E.M.), best known for commercializing Sanko Stick Packaging in the United States, offers packaging solutions to take brands from initial concept to full-scale national or global production. The company offers on-site R&D at its Marlton, NJ headquarters as well as pilot production, scale-up, and full-scale contract packaging capabilities. Below, Neil Kozarsky, CEO and President, offers insight on past predictions, current emerging trends and the 'remarkable journey' of flexible stick packaging as the format approaches its 20th year in North America...
The year was 1996. Bill Clinton was elected to a second term as President of the United States; Braveheart was awarded Picture of the Year honors; and The New York Yankees won their first World Series in 18 years. It was also the year that T.H.E.M. introduced flexible stick packaging to the North American market. “We discovered these unique portion packs, which served as alternatives to traditional rectangular pouches, in Japan several years before,” recalls Neil Kozarsky. “Believing stick packs could be of great value to our consumer packaged goods clients, we formed a partnership with Japan’s Sanko Machinery Co., Ltd., the inventors of stick packaging.”
