Fresh Coat
St. Paul-based Rayven repositions itself with a versatile new coating line.
Companies of all kinds often tout themselves as the top leader, most profitable or biggest in their field—sometimes all three. St. Paul-based Rayven is an exception. Instead, the St. Paul provider of laminating, coating and converting services focuses on its small size and versatility to meet customers’ needs. A new 72-inch coating line is leading the way. Rayven President Joe Heinemann says the high-tech, state-of-the-art line is expected to contribute anywhere from 10 to 30 percent toward additional sales growth this year (the company made nearly $10 million in 2004). “Almost everything we do tends to be innovative,” says Heinemann. “It’s what sets us apart and makes us successful.”
Richard Mercado, Rayven’s director of sales and marketing, agrees. By taking smaller minimum orders than its competition and keeping lead times on delivery to a minimum, Rayven capitalizes on its strength, Mercado says. The 72-inch coating line also has helped Rayven reposition itself as a provider of coatings and contract converting to a more diverse clientèle, which includes 3M, Sealed Air Corp. (think bubble wrap), and Avery Dennison. The 72-inch coating line, designed with a Green Bay Packers motif, took nearly 18 months to complete from conception to manufacturing. Although introduced in May 2004, it wasn’t until last year that orders were taken and the line was running at regular production.
But the computer-controlled coater runs three times faster than Rayven’s older 60-inch coating line and is capable of producing 1 billion square feet of coated film in a year. Unlike the old line, the “Packer line” as Heinemann calls it, also uses ultraviolet light to cure the coating instead of burning gas. The line, with its bigger width and increased productivity, will help in making products such as industrial insulation materials, envelopes, and even clear film label applications such as what you find on shampoo bottles.
Founded in 1954, such innovation is nothing new to Rayven and its 50 employees. When sales and marketing director Mercado noticed the move from film to digital image processing, the company was quick to act. Today Rayven produces specialty ink jet media, such as custom coated paper and films, so consumers can print higher-quality images even on their desktop printers.
Armed with the new and old coating lines, Heinemann says Rayven is now better equipped to handle new business at a faster rate than ever before. “It’s simple: we need to produce lots of materials with a short amount of time,” says Heinemann, a mechanical engineer who designed and oversaw the creation of the 72-inch coating line.
“Innovation is our savior.”
—Bao Ong