Next Generation Films breaks ground on distribution and recycling center

Lexington, OH—Custom film and bag manufacturer Next Generation Films (Lexington, OH) is expanding its site to reduce its carbon footprint, breaking ground on a new recycling and distribution center that will be powered by a wind turbine capable of producing 150 megawatts of electricity. David Frecka, chairman and CEO of Next Generation Films, expects the roughly 100,000-ft² $5 million addition to be completed in March of next year. Describing the company as a “service-driven business”, Frecka said, “That’s one of the reasons we’re putting that big warehouse there. People want smaller deliveries more often; we hold their inventory for the long runs, because we have these large machines.”

When MPW visited in early August, surveying stakes were in the ground as graders cleared earth for the facility. In addition to acting as a distribution warehouse for the company’s roughly 150 customers, the new building will also house two recycling systems from Erema to reclaim 100% of the edge trim and scrap created in the production of three-layer custom films and bags. Next Generation’s Custom Bags division, which is located on site, already runs one Erema line to shred, compact, and pelletize film scrap, with another system currently stored at a warehouse and waiting for completion of the new building.

Frecka, who started Next Generation Films 14 years ago after launching ,then selling a company specializing in high-molecular-weight films, has grown the business to 350,000-ft² of manufacturing space, 23 blown-film lines, and more than $100 million in sales.

Frecka expects the company’s revenue to increase 100% to $200 million in the next five years after it already doubled over the last four. Frecka said the new site is part of a three-year strategic plan, which in addition to the distribution and recycling center, includes a new corporate headquarters on the same land, with offices expected to be finished this year. That building also houses two Windmöller & Hölscher three-layer Varex blown-film lines, with a third bay being readied for another W&H line that recently arrived and plans to order a fourth system in the fourth quarter of this year. —Tony Deligio