Being a trendsetter isn’t always ideal. You’re often the “guinea pig,” which could be a good thing or a bad thing. For Admiral Beverage Corporation, it’s a good thing. The company was one of the first bottlers in the country to install injection molding machines, it says. After introducing blow molding lines to both of its production facilities a few years ago, injection molding has enabled the business to become even more vertically integrated.
“Everything in the market today and in the past is about vertical integration,” says Clarence Foster, plant manager for the company’s Ogden, Utah, facility. “The more levels of vertical integration you have, the more profitable it is. So if you’re the bottler as well as the distributor, then you have two levels of profitability in your organization. And [by having injection and blow molding lines], that makes us vertically integrated in plastics.”