SPE honors Tray-Pak owner as Thermoformer of the Year

READING, PA. (May 29, 11:10 a.m. ET) -- David Bestwick, chairman of Tray-Pak Corp. of Reading and a longtime innovator in the industry, is the SPE's 2009 Thermoformer of the Year.

He will be honored by the Society of Plastics Engineers at NPE2009 in June in Chicago.

Bestwick launched Tray-Pak in 1975 when he and some partners acquired the thermoforming operations of W.R. Grace & Co of Columbia, Md. Since then, Bestwick and his company have been in the forefront of the thermoformed packaging industry.

Tray-Pak started with 11 machines and 36 employees making cookie and candy trays. In 1977 Bestwick introduced high-impact polystyrene trays for mushrooms to the market. Today about 95 percent of mushrooms come in HIPS trays, he said.

“They were all in corrugated containers and we showed them that we could add a day or a day and half of shelf life,” Bestwick said in a May 28 telephone interview.

He was also involved in the early development, in the 1980s, of the crystalline PET dual ovenable tray. In the 1990s, Bestwick worked with building sustainable packaging, thermoforming post-consumer PET.

Today Tray-Pak employs 250, operates 44 thermoforming lines in nearly 200,000 square feet of space and offers design, in-house toolmaking, computer numerically controlled and AutoCad technology, rapid prototyping and digital scanning.

Bestwick was born in Grove City, Pa. He graduated from Grove City College in 1957 with a business degree and started his career as a salesman for General Fireproofing. By 1967 he bought his first business, Business Equipment and Supply, and moved it to Reading. He sold BES to a partner in 1974 and entered thermoforming with Tray-Pak. Bestwick bought out his Tray-Pak partners in 1981.

The company converts a variety of materials, including PS, polypropylene, high and low density polyethylene, PET and PVC, as well as coextruded and laminated materials. Its markets range from food service to automotive, consumer, electronic, health and beauty, industrial, medical and pharmaceutical.

In 2003 with the help of the late Scott Bestwick, Tray-Pak launched Fusion-Pak, which marries the graphic capabilities of printed board to the flexibility of thermoformed packaging. That technology eliminated the need for a box in packaging and was awarded the 2009 American Design Award from Graphic Design USA magazine.

“We are very honored,” Bestwick said about being SPE's Thermoformer of the Year. “It's not just for me, but it is for my people. If it was not for them, I'd never receive this award. I've been in the industry for 34 years, but [the award] came as a great surprise.”

Tray-Pak is best able to serve its customers by working with new materials, he said. The company installed a new clean room in the past year that will provide it with new opportunities.

Bestwick has received various awards including the Pennsylvania Department of Commerce Award in 2002, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners Grant for Economic Development in 2003 and the Ben Franklin Technology Innovation Award in 2007.

He is a member of SPE, the Society of Plastics Institute and the Ben Franklin Technology Group.

George Lueken, the owner of Mullinix Packaging Inc. of Fort Wayne, Ind., was the 2008 Thermoformer of the Year.

Looking back over almost 30 years of being associated with Dave Bestwick, I have to reflect on both the business and personal relationship I have enjoyed. Dave and Tray Pak were one of the first companies I represented when I decided to go into business. Dave encouraged me by giving me the opportunity to represent Tray Pak and through the years we have built a strong relationship with our customers. The award of Thermoformer of The Year to Dave is well deserved to an innovator and creator in the packaging industry. Norman R. Somer, Blakar, Inc.

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Mr. Bestwick is truly deserving of this award and is long overdue. I have been competing with him my whole career. I first got to meet him at a Thermoforming Institute Meeting at the Arizona Biltmore in 1995. I was a little anxious to meet him the first time and always pictured him with horns and a pitch fork. Was I ever wrong! Mr. Bestwick is a very gentle and caring man. If my business was in trouble or had a personal issue, I assure you he would be the first to offer assistance. Congratulations, Dave you are a true gentleman and have certainly raised our industry to a new high level of standards. Thank you for setting the bar so high. Good luck looking forward and here’s to you!

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