Steve's specialized areas include packaging materials, systems
and system labs, process analysis, development and dynamics of
packaging, financial management, marketing organization and
management.
Steve's 20 years of food industry experience have involved
developing new and innovative and cost effective solutions for
specialized snack food products. While at ConAgra Specialty
Snacks, Steve was responsible for establishing a packaging
department and packaging laboratory utilizing flexible
materials, composite cans, plastic containers, glass containers,
folding cartons, corrugated cardboard and displays. He also
worked closely with marketing helping create the packaging,
displays and promotional materials to promote the Slim Jim,
Pemmican, Penrose and Andy Capp brands. He developed new
materials to extend product shelf life while maintaining or
improving packaging operations efficiency. These new materials
have included improving bag and flexible film structures to help
extend extruded fries shelf life from 7 months to 18 months and
extending snack stick barrier properties to allow shelf life
greater than 12 months. Steve implemented development of O2
scavenging structures to improve shelf stability of Beef Jerky
Packaging. During his 4 years at Cadbury, Steve developed new,
innovative and cost effective concepts in product presentation
utilizing various packaging materials. All programs developed
to maximize manufacturing efficiency and control cost while
insuring marketing objectives and consumer appeal. Steve
developed new bagging materials which resulted in $80,000 cost
savings per year while improving package machineability and seal
integrity. Conversion of laminated labels to single structure
resulted in a cost savings of $110,000 per year and improved
graphics and wrapping machine efficiencies.
