Award-winning packaging manufacturer, JL Clark, wins the hearts of its workforce, customers, and communities
At the intersection of dynamic design and engineering excellence, packaging manufacturer, JL Clark, redefines what it means to be a production powerhouse. Established in 1904, the company boasts a legacy spanning over 120 years, specializing in decorative metal and plastic packaging for the food, health and beauty, and tobacco markets. Proudly manufacturing all its products in the United States, JL Clark operates across two plants at its Rockford, Illinois, facility, which has been home to the business for the last 114 years. JL Clark is trusted by some of the world’s biggest names for its ability to cleverly balance modernity and innovation with traditional brand heritage.
Now in its 121st year, JL Clark continues to prove its position as a key pillar in the manufacturing industry. Championing Mr. Clark’s philosophy to take care of its
team, customers, and communities, the company is scaling its value-driven solutions to new heights, empowering innovation whilst upholding the iconic brand personalities that the world continues to love. Food Chain sits down with Robert (Bob) Morris, President of JL Clark, to uncover the secrets behind the company’s longstanding success. He starts by sharing some insight into JL Clark’s heritage and current growth trajectory.
“JL Clark was founded by Mr. John Lewis Clark in his hardware store in 1904, where he made a stove pipe flue stopper,” Bob begins. “He included a decorative metal piece to cover the hole that the stove pipe would leave in the wall, and that was the genesis of what our business is today: a manufacturer of highly decorated custom metal packaging.
“We support a diverse range of markets. Tobacco packaging is a big area for us, as is food packaging – spices, wines, spirits – and packaging for health and beauty products. We also support customers with printed flat sheets and coated metal, which they can then form into cans. Additionally, we have injection molding machines for plastic packaging, as well as custom molds for products such as Breath Savers for Hershey.
“We’re now at a really exciting stage where we’re reinvesting for the years ahead,” he enthuses. “We’re investing over $10 million of capital into our infrastructure, to introduce new printing lines, new coating lines and expand our workforce; we’re aiming to increase our staff by 40 percent over the next 12 months.”
Packaging partnerships
Innovation runs deep in JL Clark’s DNA, and this continual reinvestment in technology and infrastructure has been instrumental in its evolution over the past century. Decade after decade, the company has evolved its capabilities with the changing market, introducing new cutting-edge technologies and automations to stay ahead of the curve, whilst still leveraging traditional manufacturing methods where necessary.
“We continue to add automation as technology improves. We have robotics that sort and pack products and palletize boxes, and our vision systems can now inspect multiple facets of 2400 parts per minute, looking for dents, embossing, debossing, print registration, and color, for example,” Bob elaborates. “However, because we’ve been in the business for over 120 years, we also have equipment that’s around 50-to-60 years old that we can no longer buy the parts for, so we have some talented craftsmen who know how to make replacement parts and keep the older equipment running.”
This approach, striking the balance between traditional manufacturing methods and modern innovation, is just one example of JL Clark’s problem-solving prowess. As a people-centric company, JL Clark is committed to going the extra mile to provide value for its customers, proactively presenting new ideas and solutions to further enhance the quality and functionality of its products.
“We think of ourselves as an ingredient to a brand’s equity, meaning that if we perform well, we can enhance their equity,” Bob explains. “We take a couple of different approaches to research and development. Some of our customers – such as the big CPG companies – may come to us with a problem and then our designers and engineers will formulate a technical solution for them; in many instances, we’re solving that problem for the first time. We’ll then prototype packages for them and apply for a patent. Other times, we’ll look at our current customers and their product lineup, and our designers and engineers will see where we may be able to improve an existing package. We’ll redesign the package from a consumer interaction standpoint, or to better protect and enhance the longevity of a perishable product, and we’ll then proactively bring that to the customer.
“The key to maintaining our partnerships is consistency with personnel,” he affirms. “It is as important to us to meet customers face to face as it was to Mr. Clark 121 years ago. If we can see our customers’ operation and how they’re interacting with the package, we can see what problems they may be having and where we can add value. We can be a part of the solution and build great relationships.”
Prioritizing people
Prioritizing people Above all else, JL Clark is passionate about providing great value and exceptional quality, whether through its high-quality products or exemplary customer service. This proactivity and deep understanding of clients’ needs shines throughout JL Clark’s portfolio, such as through its child resistant packaging for tobacco products and high levels of tamper resistance in its food packaging. Reflecting on the company’s journey thus far, Bob sheds light on the factors that continue to drive JL Clark’s longevity and success.
“It all comes down to Mr. Clark’s philosophy to take care of your team, your customers, and the community,” Bob reveals. “In regard to looking after our team, we have regular town hall meetings where we get all our employees together to review what’s going well and what isn’t, what we need them to do and what they need to hold us accountable for in the management team. Additionally, during the Great Depression, a lot of people were food challenged, so Mr. Clark built a commercial kitchen within the company and served everybody a hot meal every day. Whilst we don’t do that every week now, we still do it in the summer, at Thanksgiving, and at Christmas. We feed everyone and invite all our retirees, and I make sure to shake everyone’s hand and thank them for the work they do.
“For our customers, it goes back to going the extra mile, bringing them new ideas that they didn’t necessarily ask for. For our communities, we have a grant program where we support several charitable organizations, such as food pantries, women’s shelters, and so forth. Twice a year, we distribute cheques to these organizations within the community; it’s my favorite time of the year.”
With 2025 steadily drawing to a close, it’s clear that 2026 is set to be another highly successful year for JL Clark. Keeping this core philosophy close to its heart, the company will continue to drive innovation whilst staying true to both its own heritage and that of its partner brands. Looking to the future, JL Clark’s name will remain synonymous with state-of-the-art, eco-friendly packaging as it proceeds to grow and prosper for many more years to come, showing that with great products and a talented workforce, any solution can be made possible.