Packaging Success: Nordenia celebrates 20 years in Cape Girardeau County

Nordenia celebrated the 20th anniversary of its plant in northeast Cape Girardeau County in May. Through the years the business has diversified and, in addition to making parts for neighboring Procter & Gamble's diapers, they also manufacture packages for other everyday items from pet food to fertilizer, said plant manager Bill Burke.

In a typical day Nordenia processes more than 140,000 pounds of plastic. Nordenia's relationship with P&G started many years ago in Germany. Nordenia was a key supplier of diaper bags and bags for Always feminine napkins in Europe. The Cape Girardeau County plant was founded in the U.S. as M&W Packaging.

The Cape area was chosen for a variety of reasons, Burke said. "The community has good, technically skilled people with an excellent work ethic and a strong commitment to families and education," he said. "Great support was given by the local community, the chamber of commerce and political officials." Easy Interstate access and proximity to Procter & Gamble also were factors.

The first mission of the new plant was to produce diaper bags for the P&G Cape plant. Over the years, Nordenia has expanded its product offerings to P&G to include diaper components, siliconized wraps for feminine napkins, bags, film for baby wipes and adhesive pad film for Swiffer floor care products.

In addition to P&G, Nordenia's second-largest category of business is with food companies: Tyson Foods, the largest protein supplier in the U.S. which produces chicken, beef and pork products, Perdue Farms, Foster Farms and Pilgrims Pride are a few of them. Nordenia also supplies bags for a number of pet food companies. Two of them, Nestle and Royal Canin, have plants in Missouri.

Today, Nordenia has between 375 and 400 employees, depending on the workload, Burke said.