Feenstra visits Hood Packaging Sibley facility | Gazette-tribune | nwestiowa.com

Hood Packaging plate maker Gina Kruger shows U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) how she makes logo prints, while manufacturing manager Reyes Ontiveros shows a finished example.

SIBLEY—U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Hull) found a jewel in Sibley’s town of 2,800 on Thursday.

Hood Packaging in Sibley has asserted itself as a community staple after acquiring the old manufacturing building established in 1972. The site has shifted through many lines of ownership — first Chase Bag Co., followed by Union Camp, International Paper, Exopack, Coveris and TC Transcontinental, before becoming Hood Packaging. The familial atmosphere is what gained the attention of the congressman.

“Growing up in northwest Iowa, I’ve always heard about the packaging in Sibley, Iowa. I told my staff, ‘I want to go see it, just how important it is,’” Feenstra said. “To know that they have nearly 200 employees, it’s just incredible to see. And I’m so glad what it does for Sibley and what it does for northwest Iowa; the economic development it does is quite impressive.”

His visit began on the upper-level portion of the packaging facility since entering the main floor required ear plugs, removal of all jewelry, protective glasses and shoe covers.

Product manager Reyes Ontiveros welcomed Feenstra to the plant’s daily operations with a short slideshow, introducing him to what exactly daily operations look like.

Hood Packaging runs a 24-hour operation in Sibley five days a week. Ontiveros explained the company makes pinch bottom, sewn open mouth and self-opening sack, or SOS, bags. While the name may not be common to the average person, the product is.

A pinch bottom bag looks like two cardboard sheets sewn together.

Similarly, a sewn open-mouth bag has two faces but a greater width in between. Seeds, soil and other agricultural material often are sold in these bags.

An SOS bag is a smaller, self-standing pouch, seen most often as a popcorn or bakery to-go bag.

“We supply approximately 225 accounts,” Ontiveros said. “We do a lot of sugar, flour, that type of packaging.”

Some of the major customers the Sibley plant serves are Pioneer seed, Diamond V grains, Kingsford charcoal products and Michigan Sugar Company.

“A lot of these customers have actually been with us for the 52 years that we’ve been in business,” said stacker and inspector Lisa Cooper.

Two of the largest projects the Sibley facility are looking at in the future is to continue automating more processes down the bag line — particularly feeding bags into a machine, picking it up off a line and inspecting it — and to add another SOS bag line. Hood Packaging also is upgrading its fire suppression system.

Finding workers to combat steady demand proved difficult for several years, Ontiveros said. However, shifting focus with the help of Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon has made a dramatic difference.

“We started a program, actually with NCC, where we started doing workplace Spanish lessons for leaders and then offering English classes for employees,” Ontiveros said. “Through that, we’ve been able to tap into a different market that’s really allowed us to have a plethora of people. We actually get to be choosy and pick who we interview and be a lot more stringent in our process.”

Most employees live in Sibley or Worthington, MN, with Hood Packaging located not far off the Highway 60 expressway at 1400 Chase Blvd.

After talking about the company, it was time for Feenstra to see the operation.

Ontiveros led Feenstra through a tour of the nearly 255,000-square-foot facility, shaking hands with and introducing himself to multiple floor workers along the way.

One of those workers was purchasing clerk Allen Reck of Sibley.

Reck began working for Hood Packaging when he was 19 years old after graduating from Little Rock High School in 1983.

“I used to work out on the production floor,” Reck said. “I started off as the janitor technically. And then I went to working on the sewing line, then I went to working in small bags, then I worked my way over to printing as a helper, and then I was a press operator, and then from press operator I went to maintenance. I went to maintenance in 1990.

“Everyone’s like, ‘It’s unbelievable that you’ve worked there that long,’ but I enjoy getting up and going to work every day.”

Looking at about four more years until retirement, Reck reflected on his 41-year-long career every day at the same place. He said one thing continues to bring him back.

“I just like working with the people,” he said.

For 33 years, Reck has lived just a mile away from the packaging plant. He said he lived in a different house three blocks farther into Sibley for seven years before then.

Reck’s dad, stepmom, wife, brothers- and sisters-in-law have all worked at Hood Packaging at some point.

“My two brothers-in-law actually work in the shop with me,” he said. “One brother-in-law is a mechanic and the other brother-in-law in an electrician. They’ve both been here over 30 years.”

Reck has seen the evolution of what is now Hood Packaging. He said the facility reminds him of when he first started.

“Hood is a family-owned company like Chase Bag used to be,” Reck said. “They’re very willing to money into this building, into our facility.”

Alongside Reck, many employees at the Sibley plant have worked there for decades. As Feenstra said his goodbyes, he pointed out how unique Hood Packaging’s 88 percent retention rate is.

“A lot of manufacturing plants do not have that. The turnover is 30 to 35 percent a year, and they don’t have that here,” Feenstra said. “That just tells you how good this business is and how it takes care of their employees.

“I’m just so impressed. There are so many jewels in each community — and here, right in Sibley, Iowa, we have this Hood Packaging plant that employs all these people. It’s so valuable to this area and again, just thrilled to see the expertise that’s going into what’s happening and the pride that people are taking in creating these bags.”

Business: Hood Packaging

Production manager: Reyes Ontiveros

Address: 1400 Chase Blvd. in Sibley

Hours: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday

Phone: 712-754-3613

Online: hoodpkg.com

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Updated: November 4, 2024 @ 9:31 am