May 26—CLINTON — Clysar, LLC, is celebrating 60 years of producing shrink film, and is using the milestone as an opportunity to honor and recognize its employees, community, ownership and the packaging industry.

Clysar focuses solely on the production of environmentally safe polyolefin shrink film — a light-weight, healthier packaging product offering a low package-to-product ratio and high levels of product protection.

Today, many of the branded and fresh products found on store shelves at retailers such as Walmart and Hy-Vee and grocery or Amazon deliveries are packaged in shrink film made in Clinton.

The multi-generational employment of many family members is part of the Clysar history. The family atmosphere extends through all of its employees, creating life-long friendships between co-workers, which further solidifies the bond of the Clysar team, company officials say.

"The history of family and quality can be explained by being a Midwest company built on the foundation of honesty and integrity," states Vicki Larson, president of Clysar. "We bring these values with us as we build relationships with our customers and industry partners by solving packaging challenges and delivering trustworthy results."

Clysar's polyolefin shrink film has been made in Clinton since 1963. Originally a division of DuPont, the product was developed to be a secondary manufacturing option on DuPont's Clinton cellophane manufacturing campus. As demand for shrink film grew and the future of cellophane was uncertain, DuPont began to shift production assets to focus on Clysar production and by 1985 had converted the plant to solely produce shrink film.

From 1985 through 2002, Clysar continued to expand its film technologies, quality systems, capabilities and global reach under the leadership of DuPont. The company's extrusion and converting lines were expanded several times during that period.

In 2002, Clysar was acquired by Bemis Company, Inc., the largest flexible packaging company in North America. Backed by Bemis' world class product development and manufacturing disciplines, Clysar's product offering expanded to include tough films engineered to replace corrugate, pliable films able to wrap any product shape, and thin films designed to drive packaging source reduction.

On May 29, 2013, Cove Point Holdings purchased the Clysar division from Bemis, and Clysar consolidated all operations and headquarters to the Clinton Campus, where its extrusion and converting assets were located along with the majority of its 300 employees.

At the time of acquisition, Cove Point Holdings stated: "Our philosophy is to acquire stable U.S. manufacturing companies with excellent growth potential and then invest in value-creation strategies that help them flourish. We are committed to enhancing our operations in Clinton and to growing the Clysar business. This is an exciting time for the Clysar family."

For the past 10 years, Cove Point Holdings has invested heavily in Clysar's shrink film operations to enhance research and development and to grow the company's competitive position.

"Along with the extensive investment in capital projects and research and development by Cove Point Holdings, our dedicated Clinton workforce has played a pivotal role in our success these past 60 years," Larson says. "We are known in the industry for providing the most extensive line of quality shrink film products. Our reputation is based on a great mix of leadership, technology, research and development, technical service and skilled manufacturing, which makes us a dynamic force in the shrink film market."

Today, Clysar is a leader in the shrink film industry, manufacturing the broadest line of recyclable shrink films in the market.

"Clysar produces an industry-leading line of five recyclable films that are all pre-approved by How2Recyle for store drop-off recycling," Larson says. "This is an important packaging initiative that is good for the environment and for our end-user customers. These companies are seeking ways to be good environmental stewards and answer retailer's guidelines for more environmental friendly packaging," Larson says.

"Shrink film is by far the lowest percentage of any packaging solution — accounting for less than 2% of the total package," she says. "The minute amount of Clysar in the overall package also helps lower greenhouse gas emissions and offers a reduction in the material as our films can be used in virtually any type of packaging application. We truly have the sustainable packaging answer."

Celebrations and cookouts will be held with employees throughout the coming summer and the business remains focused on the future.

"When you make quality shrink film and you have such strong ownership and investment, as well as an accomplished research and development team and our dedicated, skilled work force, the future for Clysar is bright," Larson says.