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TRUEFOAM Leads The Way With Innovative Products Whether with its EPS construction or packaging products, TRUEFOAM has been able to capitalize on changing market conditions and make them work in its favor. Ironically, the closing of the cod fishery has helped, not hurt, TRUEFOAM Ltd.'s seafood packaging market. President and general manager Eric MacNeary points out that the current Atlantic Fishery - both open ocean and aquaculture - is focused on diverse, higher quality seafood requiring more careful handling and fresher delivery. Both of these factors play directly into the strengths of TRUEFOAM's line of insulated EPS shipping containers. TRUEFOAM's entry into the packaging market occurred in 1988 when the company decided to buy its first expanded polystyrene (EPS) shape molding machine. Until then we were a manufacturer of EPS insulation, using a single process, block molding, says MacNearney. "Shape molding of polystyrene gave the company a new dimension." Today, while it is still a manufacturer of EPS insulation, the company's line of EPS seafood packaging is the fastest growing side of its business. The company offers 25 different sizes of it's Styropack line of EPS insulated containers for shipping fish and shellfish, which are manufactured from facilities in Dartmouth, N.S. Fredericton, N.B., as well as a recently opened sister company, Newfoundland Stryo Inc., located in Bishop Falls. TRUEFOAM's 40,000 sq. ft. Fredericton facility operates five shape molding machines and the 75,000 sq. ft. Dartmouth plant has four shape molding machines. As well, TRUEFOAM's Bishop Falls subsidiary runs four shape molding machines. The shape molding machines are manufactured by Hirsch Maschinenbau GmbH and Kurtz North America. On the construction side, TRUEFOAM has acquired a reputation for innovative in-house development work with patented products such as Truewall and Insul-Wall. Truewall is a groved EPS insulation system for basements designed to be nailed directly to concrete basement walls and floor. Insul-Wall was the first system to incorporate EPS insulation within the wall sections of a wood fram construction, providing higher "R" values of insulation and eliminating the need for sheathing. The tradition of innovation is being carried on with the recent introduction of the insulated concrete form system (ICFS) manufactured by TRUEFOAM. The ICFS product, which is distributed throughout the Maritimes under the Enerwall name, is a system for the formation of poured concrete walls above or below ground. It is composed of an inner and outer layer of closed cell EPS insulation joined with steel studs. The EPS forms stay in place after the concrete is cured, resulting in a 50% increase in wall strength with up to 45% less concrete usage than conventional. TRUEFOAM has a machine shop which maintains all the company's molds, which are made primarily from case aluminum. It also has made a $100,000 investment in a reclaiming system for the company's cooling water. The significant amounts of cooling water used in EPS manufacturing will allow the company to recapture the investment in about three years. [back] |