About Us


Our History

Western States Packaging, Inc was founded by Mark Pickrell in 1994 and is currently headquartered in Pacoima, CA.  Our founder is a veteran in the poly bag industry with over 30 years of experience who had a vision of becoming the very best at what we do.  There aren’t many individuals like Mark who have done everything in the industry. He has run product lines, worked in bag design, and become CEO of a company.  We take a moment to tell you about our humble beginnings and Mark’s vision because we have never forgotten where we started! It is this attitude that drives Western to be different than our competitors in that we make personalized and customized service our top priority. To us, our customers are what matter.

Over the past two decades Western has grown to become one of the largest direct manufactures of food grade poly bags for auto inserter equipment in the country.   Staying focused to our initial vision and the market we want to serve, we have refined our expertise in bag manufacturing and design and have all the appropriate certifications relevant to our industry. Western has proven through its long term relationships, commitments and uncompromising quality that our customers are like family. 

Looking forward, Western is poised to be your value added partner today and into the future!


A WSP Success Story!

   It’s not every day that things come together so quickly or so perfectly that we feel the story of success must be shared with everyone! We are proud to say that Western States Packaging was able to meet and exceed the expectations of one of our customers simply because we could.
   One of our existing customers made a referral to another customer who was using the same equipment. As it turned out, we learned that these two guys actually went to college together. They shared that the one was having issues finding a poly bag product that would work effectively on the Pearson Auto Inserter equipment his company uses. The other let him know that when it comes to poly and automated bag in a box applications you want to "call WSP, as they make a product that works day in and day out." Excited to hear the good news, he called us immediately to introduce himself.
   Literally minutes later he called the personal cell phone of WSP CEO, Mark Pickrell, and was on a three way conference call with him and Rocco Loosbrock, the Sales and Marketing Director. The customer explained the situation saying, “You come highly recommended. What can you do for us?”
   We told him WSP would run a pallet of product for each item they needed. Then, we would fly out ourselves to oversee the test. To say the least, he was surprised that we would do this.
Just a few short days later, the product was shipped and delivered. The day of the test, the product was placed on the equipment and ran just as we always promise, “down to the core, each and every roll.” Then and there, they knew they had found their new supplier and we had delivered on our commitment to help.

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 Mission Statement

Our mission is to manufacture  and supply precision made poly bags at competitive prices, while striving to work closely with our customers to understand their needs in an effort to build long-lasting relationships.

 

 

Our Value Proposition

 

Packaging Done Right

In an industry where a difference of 1/8” can cause real headaches, it’s nice to know that you’ve got a polybag inserter film manufacturer that understands the need for quality. Rest assured that you’ll be getting film that you can count on running headache free, roll after roll. We at Western States Packaging are not only committed to supplying precision made polybags, in a timely manner at competitive prices, but we also strive to work closely with our customers to understand their needs and make sure we ship the exact product they are looking for.

 

Quality Program and Control Highlights

Here are some of the things we do internally to ensure quality:
• We conduct formal and recorded quality checks as the film is being produced
• We use an OEE system on production lines to track and manage our efficiency.
• We maintain written truck inspection records
• We maintain an integrated performance tracking system with customers
• We have monthly employee training and meetings to continuously improve our process and quality
• We issue COA’s, Allergen Statements, Prop 65, Transparency/Supplier Code of Conduct, HACCP, CONEG & other quality documents, as requested.

Cost Saving Ideas

We use our past experience working with comparable companies and suggest cost saving measures to be implemented based on various tests and initiatives which we have tried. One cost saving recommendation that we have is to use a octane material blend which would allow us to achieve lower gauges and keep the structural integrity of the bag. We are currently and successfully reducing the gauge with many processing companies.

Savings Example!

   Your company uses 5 million poly bags per year, that's 416,000 poly bags per month or about 462 rolls per month.  You lose 20 bags at the core of each roll with your current poly supplier. That comes out to 9,240 lost bags per month or 110,880 lost bags per year. That's the equivalent of losing 124 rolls each year!
   We guarantee each of our rolls down to the core.  
   (Cost of roll * Change over time) + Cost of lost production time = Thousands in savings just by switching to WSP!

Key Differentiations

Why choose Western? The reason you should choose Western is because this is our core business! We serve a niche industry and focus on companies that use auto inserter equipment. This focus gives us a strategic advantage and gives our valued clients a few of the following benefits:
• A defective rate of less than .01%
• Bag standardization and cost saving ideas among your facilities
• Privately owned
• Gauge tolerances of +/-5%
• Size tolerances of +/- 1/8”
• Each roll is weighed and documented
• On time deliveries each and every time

 
Organizational Support

It is important to us that you are treated like our most valued client. We believe that you are more than a client, you are our partner in business. Here are some of the standards you can expect from Western States:
• Specified contacts
• Regular site visits
• Bag change recommendations to standardize film and maximize cost savings and efficiencies
• Consistent quality roll after roll
• Higher standards
• Use every bag down to the core
• Reduced costs through improved production run times

 

 

Pricing Programs and Incentives

Managing your cost is critical to running an efficient business. So we recommend a cost plus pricing program. This allows you take advantage of price increases and decreases in a managed fashion. We accomplish this by offering you a 24 month contract that has cost adjustments that are based upon a published CMAI / CDI index. This option guarantees that you will only have 4 adjustments per year in your price. In layman’s terms what a cost plus pricing model means to you is that you can better manage your price to your customers. Finally, this pricing methodology ensures your margins as well as ours.

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