GSC Packaging, a nationwide provider of turnkey contract packaging solutions, earned the number one spot in the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2013 Pacesetter Awards, which recognize Atlanta’s 100 fastest-growing private companies. GSC Packaging is one of the largest contract packagers of powdered foods, drink mixes, supplements and diet products in the United States. GSC Packaging specializes in multiple forms of food contract packaging and secondary packaging solutions, including stick packs, pouches, large format pouches, vertical form fill seal pouches, and horizontal form fill seal pouches, among other popular flexible pouch formats. Between 2010 and 2012, GSC Packaging increased revenue 3,265 percent due to the addition of new clients. The company also grew from 30 employees in 2010 to 300 in 2012.

“Contract packaging is in-demand as food manufacturers are realizing the cost-benefits of expanding production without requiring a capital investment in managing expensive facilities, equipment, and personnel,” said Bob Shapiro, CEO of GSC Packaging. “Contract packagers also offer manufacturers a decreased lead-time to market and built-in expertise in packaging design, quality procedures, and food safety.”

To keep up with the company’s rapid growth, GSC Packaging recently moved to a 100,000-square-foot facility at 575 Wharton Drive in Atlanta. Extensive renovations of the facility have transformed the building into a custom, state-of-the-art food contract packaging facility. The new GSC Packaging facility features fifteen production lines, including seven horizontal form/fill/seal (FFS) lines, three six-lane stick pack packaging lines, as well as various semi-automatic, large format automatic, and secondary packaging and kitting lines. The new packaging facility also features a state-of-the-art layout and design, the latest air-handling technology, lot code tracking, real-time computerized inventory control, dust control and air-conditioned storage. The facility layout was custom designed to isolate products into separate suites that package only one specific product at a time to prevent cross-contamination. For added security, the facility also features cameras in each individual suite. Packaged products travel through small openings in the walls to separate secondary packaging areas, which further protects exposed products. In addition, the Atlanta location provides clients with strategic national distribution capabilities.

To qualify for the Pacesetter Awards, companies have to be privately owned, based in the 20-county metro Atlanta area, and not be a subsidiary of another company. Companies also have to be established before the first quarter of 2010, have a two-year growth in sales of more than 50 percent, and have between $1 million and $300 million in revenue in 2012. Companies are ranked by a growth index formula, used to even the playing field among businesses of various sizes. The revenue and employee growth indexes are the percent change from 2010 through 2012, multiplied by the absolute change for the same years. A company’s average employee or revenue growth index is the growth index divided by the average growth index of all companies that qualify. The weighted average growth index is a company’s average employee index score, plus its average revenue index score. Employee growth is weighted 40 percent and revenue growth is weighted 60 percent.