Bema Polytech, Inc… a bit of history
Bema was founded in 1957 by Sam Shaw under the name of “Bema Transparent Bag Company”. The company started with one bag machine and was one of the first plastic bag manufacturers to make bags for well known companies as Mars Candy, Jewel Food Stores, Burney Brothers Bakery, Tootsie Roll Candy and many other household company names that still exist today. Located on the south side of Chicago the company after only 6-months added another bag machine and continued to grow along with its customers demand for high quality custom bags also grew. By 1959, only 2-years later, Bema had a total of thee bottom-seal bag machines, three side-seal bags machines and one four-color press. Through the years Bema continued to provide customized packaging that provided unique packaging solutions for their customers. The continued growth required a new facility and in 1969 the company moved to its current location in Elmhurst, Illinois.
The next major expansion at the Elmhurst location came in the form of blown film extrusion and in 1974 Bema added five blown film extrusion lines to its production capacity. Now with extrusion, printing and converting operation under one roof there was nothing this small vertically integrated company could not do as it pertained to polyethylene film processing. Having this capability spawned a whole host of research and development projects. A few such ideas sparked interest from various large corporations, one being the ITW Corporation. ITW was very interested in the stretch film technology Bema was working on. In fact they were so interested they bought the company in 1981 specifically for this technology.
After a five year development run with ITW Sam had an opportunity to buy the company back and did so in 1986. Shortly after buying the company back the focus shifted from research and development and took the form of a “custom job shop” type production facility. The company’s job shop structure provided custom products and services to small and medium size customer’s, focusing on their immediate needs. A six color central impression press was added and Bema continued to expand its polyethylene processing capabilities. The resume of customers also expanded and included; Johnson Controls, Sherwin Williams, Lane Bryant, American Licorice, Alpha Baking and other well known companies.
In 1998 the company was put up for sale and was sold to Glen Galloway in August of 1999. The company’s name changed to Bema Polytech, Inc. The main focus of the “new company” was to expand sales and marketing and further improve customer service. After just 7-years the company has expanded its capabilities and now includes; blown film extrusion, pre-press and plate making, 8-color process printing, adhesive laminations, slitting and converting.
With this added processing capability and more focus on customer service the company has quadrupled in size and has more resources to handle specific customer needs. Although in the last few years the company has seen unprecedented growth Bema’s operational structure and focus remains the same, committed to vertical integration, flexibility in manufacturing and unmatched customer service to all customers, large and small alike.
