Manufacturers of Genuine Vegetable Parchment and Other Paper Products Since 1896

Ahlstrom West Carrollton Inc.

History

When West Carrollton Parchment Co. installed two parchment machines in its West Carrollton, Ohio mill in 1896, the firm became the pioneer U.S. manufacturer of Genuine Vegetable Parchment. Over a century later, WCP still manufacturers GVP in the same building, however the name has recently been changed. On February 1, 2008, Ahlstrom acquired WCP and now the new company operates as Ahlstrom West Carrollton Inc. Everything else, however is new-including new processes, equipment and product lines reflecting over a century of continuous improvement.

Because of its purity, grease resistance and wet strength, genuine vegetable parchment is most widely recognized as the ideal wrapper for meat and dairy products. But it is far more than that. Its density endows it with excellent electrical insulating properties. Its grease and oil resistance makes it an ideal material to help keep caulking, adhesives, gums, and other sticky substances manageable. With Silicone or Quilon coatings, genuine vegetable parchment meets the needs of such diverse customer sectors as the rubber, roofing, and bakery industries. It accepts printing readily. And new uses come to our attention daily.

To meet diverse market needs, we have augmented our human resources and skills with advanced automation and computerization. Genuine vegetable parchment manufacturing and finishing processes are quality-controlled to a degree of precision our predecessors from 1896 could not possibly have imagined. This precision allows us to fine-tune the processes to satisfy a large range of stringent customer specifications. This story starts with parchment. However, as this company has evolved to respond to customer challenges throughout the world of flexible packaging, it doesn't end there.

Although the basics of flexible packaging are the same, performance requirements are far more stringent than those of a century ago.
Packaging must, first of all, protect the contents: fresh and frozen foods; dairy, confectionary, and bakery goods; pharmaceutical and cosmetics products; and a wide range of medical, dental, surgical, and industrial items. It must keep products fresh, preserve aroma or color, and guard them from contamination by external elements. The package must merchandise the contents with appeal to the consumer. The printed appearance must be of the highest quality. The material must perform smoothly and efficiently on customer processing and packaging lines.

While Genuine Vegetable Parchment remains the preferred flexible packaging material for many uses, a wide range of papers, plastic films, foils, and high-tech laminates with special wax, hot melt, or Silicone coatings are now available to today's packaging engineers. We've worked with them all, developing solutions to flexible packaging problems where others failed- or chose not to try.

Ahlstrom West Carrollton Inc.
PO Box 49098
1 South Elm Street
West Carrollton, Ohio 45449-0098
937-859-3621