Summit Packaging
expands in Europe
Netherlands HQ sees upgrades, R&D lab…
Summit Packaging Systems specializes in the manufacture of
aerosol dispensing systems with manufacturing operations
in the U.S. (Manchester, NH and Racine, WI), Europe
(Almere, The Netherlands and Tarnow, Poland) and Latin America
(Pilar, Argentina). The company was founded in 1976 and remains
privately-held, with the third generation currently in the business.
Summit Europe was established in 1988 to develop the
European market and, since then, has continued to expand.
It now supplies 25% of the European market, the company
told SPRAY. Its European headquarters have been located in
Almere, The Netherlands since 1992—originally in a 12,000
sq m (129,167 sq ft) building.
In 2007, Summit Europe opened a 6,500 sq m (69,965 sq ft)
production unit in Tarnow, Poland to be closer to the expanding
aerosol business in Eastern Europe. This now houses valve assembly
and mounting cup stamping for Europe.
To support the continued growth of Summit’s business in Europe,
the Almere site was further extended in 2012 with a 4,000 sq
m (43,056 sq ft) warehouse expansion. This included a capacity of
3,500 pallet spaces; according to the company, short lead-times are
core to Summit’s strategy, so holding sufficient component stock
was critical to helping ensure flexible supply to its customers.
By 2017, the Almere site was again at full capacity. Summit had
to decide on a major expansion plan to handle existing and future
growth plans that included its European manufacturing capacity
and capabilities. This was in-line with its corporate vertical integration
strategy to produce and assemble components in-house.
Building began on Oct. 1, 2018, when the first of 670 concrete
foundation piles were driven into the ground to support the new,
two-story 4,000 sq m (43,056 sq ft) extension to the existing building.
The expansion added a new two-floor molding operation that
more than doubled the available floor space for new machines and
larger tonnage presses. The focus on molding was to support more
valve component production in Europe and expand the capacity
for stock/custom actuator solutions.
The building is designed to have the molding machines on the
first floor (top floor) and parts collection/sub-assembly on the
ground floor, allowing for even more presses. An overhead crane
system does away with the need for forklift trucks on the floor. All
utilities are fed to the machines from the ground floor level, up
underneath the machines.
As part of this expansion, a new 450 sq m (4,844 sq ft) state-ofthe
art aerosol R&D lab has been added to offer increased capacity
and capabilities for development projects. According to Summit,
technical support is an integral part of the company’s strategy to
continue to grow its business in Europe.
26 Spray September 2020
The Almere site after warehouse expansion in 2012.
Installation of the six twin cavity resin silos.
Summit once again expanded its Almere European HQ in 2020.