Carthuplas Inc.
Contact: Sales Manager
7 Shape Dr.
Kennebunk, ME 04043
US-Maine
Phone: 207-985-4972
Fax: 207-985-3224
Cartonneries de Thulin S.A. The starting point of a great success.
In 1952, Henri and Marie-Louise Lammerant founded the Cartonneries de Thulin, on a perfect site, surrounded by extensive green areas.
The main activity of their business began with the manufacturing of cardboard for binding and packaging. In 1963, it started producing more specialized cardboard, for base of washing powder containers. Their main customers at that time were UNILEVER, PROCTER & GAMBLE, HENKEL and other leading detergent manufacturers. 90% of their products were exported to France, the Netherlands and Germany.
In 1972, Henri Lammerant took over a Ghent factory making paper and plastic accessories for the textile industry. This factory already included a plastic injection moulding department and, among other things, made cones for winding threads for dycing.
Looking ahead to make continuous progress. A family tradition.
At the beginning of the eighties, as the future of cardboard and paper became quite uncertain, Mr and Mrs Lammerant looked into possible conversion.
In 1982, after completing their university studies, Filip and Marleen Lammerant reinforced the team, playing an active role in the rapid growth of the company. And in 1984, after closing their Ghent plant, the family had the idea of moving into the plastic processing sector, transfering the plastic injection division from Ghent to Thulin.
The main motivation and philosophy was to specialise in a standard mass product in the packaging field, find a very specific niche, automate the production and cover a relatively broad market.
And this was the starting point for a rapid and successsful conversion.
From cardboard to plastic.
It was in the entirely new Carthuplas division that the first product, the SECURIBOX was created. These were a range of plastic containers with tamper-evident closure for the pharmaceutical sector. After this, the company worked as sub-contractor for the medical industry, producing parts for disposable syringes. This experience gave the opportunity to acquire considerable "know-how" in the injection moulding of plastic, combining multicavity moulds, high-performance moulding machines and increasingly automated production.
Carthuplas finds its place in the market of optical media packaging.
In May 1986, looking for a niche offering opportunities in line with the company's philosophy, Carthuplas became interested in the compact disc sector, a new promising high-technology product. Made by injection moulding of plastic, the CD packaging constituted the ideal product. In June 1987, the first CD cases were manufactured in Thulin (Jewel Box, Two Piece and Multipack). At the time, the first assembly line produced 20,000 cases a day. Today the Carthuplas Group produces about 5.000.000 sets -including about 1.000.000 DVD boxes- in 24 hours and on 2 continents.
A growing market for an expanding company.
From year to year, the Optical Media market has continued to grow. New media like CD Rom, CD R, and more recently, DVD, DVD R are expected to support a growth for the next years.
Through innovation in new designs like the Brilliant Box, the Brilliant MaxiBox, the Clip Tray, the FlexBox, the MultiFlexBox, Carthuplas has paved the road for his future growth with the most complete range of article Media Packaging.
Carthuplas became also a global supplier to the Optical Media industry with 2 plants in Europe (Thulin-Belgium, Muri-Switzerland), and a plant in the US (Kennebunk, Maine).
The expected turnover for 2004 should be about 80 million Euro.
Carthuplas has customers in all regions of the world (Europe, US, Asia, South America,...)
Over 95% of its production is exported, mainly within the E.C., but also to other regions all over the world (United States, Asia, South America, etc.). Their customers include leading music production groups as EMI, WARNER, BERTELSMANN, UNIVERSAL, SONY, etc., as well as many independent CD manufacturers. And now, also majors CDR or DVD production groups as CINRAM, DELUXE, TECHNICOLOR, MICROSOFT, etc.
Carthuplas is focused totally on optical media and multimedia industry. First with the launch of the Brilliant MaxiBox, then with the Clip Tray (the thinnest CD box ever) in 1999. During the last years, Carthuplas has heavily invested in DVD packaging development. In 2001, Carthuplas was again at the forefront of innovation with its FlexBox, the most user friendly DVD packaging available. And today, Carthuplas is introducing the MultiFlexBox to the power 4.
Quality - Innovation - Flexibility: The formula for success.
A continuous desire for innovation, total dedication to quality, great flexibility, are just a few principles, that explain CARTHUPLAS's success.
Thinking ahead and leading the market, are their main challenges.
The CD packagings market is a global market in which competition is fierce, in terms of prices, production methods, quality as well as customer services and delivery lead times.
In order to stay ahead, CARTHUPLAS has always striven to maintain the highest quality standard and guarantee "Just-in-Time" deliveries through its flexible manufacturing capacity. Its great strength has been to automate production lines to make them competitive, and to continually innovate to offer new products and technological solutions. This enables them to supply large quantities, for the whole range of CD packagings, within very short lead times.
In addition, CARTHUPLAS enhances its customers' packagings using printing techniques such as: pad printing, hot foil stamping and screen printing.
Carthuplas is an ISO 9002 company since 1999.
These are only a few of the company's strengths, that helped CARTHUPLAS to build up its reputation. This, and the continuous will to improve rapidly to the specific needs of its customers, will soon position CARTHUPLAS among the most important CD packaging manufacturers.
