Pregis®, a global supplier of protective packaging, mailing and bagging solutions and flexible packaging, has opened two Customer Experience Centers in Atlanta and Los Angeles. Inspired by the Pregis Innovation Headquarters (IQ) located in Aurora, Ill., the new Customer Experience Centers extend the company's hallmark consultative approach by providing more convenient access to regional customers seeking Pregis professionals and solutions.
While Pregis IQ® remains at the core of the engineering-backed design and testing service offered by Pregis, the new Customer Experience Centers give customers across the East, Midwest and West a place to see much of the company’s portfolio in person, participate in hands on product demonstrations and evaluate new ideas.
Hands-on support, closer to customers
The intent is practical. The Customer Experience Centers offer dedicated space where teams can learn about packaging equipment, materials and applications to decide what fits an operation before it reaches their facility.
It will also serve as an education and training hub for the extended network of Pregis channel partners with opportunities to learn about key sales fundamentals, market and sustainability trends as well as equipment maintenance and service. Customers interested in visiting can arrange a session through their local Pregis representative.
Backed by Pregis IQ
When a project calls for deeper engineering, validation or line integration, the Pregis IQ team takes it from there, so a conversation that starts in Atlanta or Los Angeles can move into full development without losing momentum.
Therefore, the Customer Experience Centers are an extension of the Pregis IQ, a 50,000-square-foot innovation headquarters opened in 2019. Pregis IQ is staffed by engineers certified by the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA), who have worked with hundreds of customers across every industry, from food to automotive, to design, validate and implement packaging solutions.
At Pregis IQ, the team follows a comprehensive consultative process:
- Collaborating with clients on product and packaging needs, project goals including sustainability and budgetary KPIs
- Designing a tailored solution and presenting data-backed recommendations
- Testing the design against ISTA, Amazon Packaging Support and Supplier Network (APASS) and in-house protocols
- Developing standard operating procedures that integrate seamlessly into a customer's packaging operation
A Pregis specialist demonstrates on-demand inflatable packaging systems at a Customer Experience Center, where customers can evaluate protective packaging solutions hands-on before implementation.
"Bringing customers into our facilities to understand the cascading impacts of their packaging choices is often very eye opening. Collecting key stakeholder insights in advance of engaging the engineering depth at Pregis IQ helps move projects more quickly through the full design, testing and validation process, before moving into the implementation phase. We find this progression works best toward defining a measurable customer benefit," said Damon Lucenta, senior packaging engineer at Pregis IQ.
That engineering work shows up in measurable results, from lower damage rates to reduced shipping weight and cost. In one project, Pregis IQ engineers cut a manufacturer's product damage to 1.5 percent and saved nearly $5 million a year. In another, a customer that moved from boxes to Pregis EverTec® mailers cut shipping costs by $4.3 million annually.
What sets Pregis apart
"What customers are choosing when they work with Pregis is the application expertise and engineering bench behind our solutions," said Scott Peterson, chief sales officer at Pregis. "Between the commercial expertise provided by our field sales teams and the documented value provided by Pregis IQ, we’ve spent years solving tough business challenges with our packaging solutions across virtually every industry. Bringing this capability closer to the markets we serve through the addition of two new Customer Experience Centers is one of many ways we are investing to deliver value to our customers.”
Customers interested in visiting a Customer Experience Center should contact their local Pregis representative. If you have a packaging challenge, you can start a project here by providing details that will be sent to the sales team or learn more about the service offering available from the Pregis IQ today.
About Pregis
Pregis LLC is an innovative, customer-driven solutions provider of flexible packaging, protective packaging materials and equipment, mailing solutions and surface protection. As a material-neutral company, Pregis works with customers to find the right solution to solve their business challenges. Pregis is dedicated to minimizing environmental impact by developing products that protect against damage, are designed for circularity, and help preserve natural resources. The company serves a wide range of consumer and industrial market segments, including food, healthcare/pharmaceutical, agricultural, e-commerce, retail, furniture, electronics, building and construction, transportation, and military/aerospace. For more information, visit www.pregis.com and www.pregiseu.com.
