CLINTON, Mo. – For more than 55 years, Champion Brands has blended and packaged motor oils, gear lubes and automotive chemicals for its own brand and a number of Fortune 500 companies. The company recently increased its packaging capabilities from 2 oz. containers to rail car quantities, in an effort to expand its private label business.
Located in Clinton, Mo., just 75 miles southeast of Kansas City, Champion’s 450,000-square-foot plant accommodates more than 1.4 million gallons of bulk storage with convenient rail siding. The plant has 10 filling lines and an in-house blow molding operation to produce HDPE and PVC bottles. The facility also contains state-of-the-art volumetric and net-weight filling capabilities, the company says.
According to Champion, the company’s net weight filling line that is capable of filling 350 12-oz. containers per minute to exact weight specifications. Cans (or bottles) are de-palletized, labeled, filled, capped, sealed, coded, packed and palletized, with only three operators needed. This line is capable of running metal or HDPE containers in sizes ranging from 8- to 32-ounces. The speed and versatility of this line makes it a high-volume, cost-effective solution for the many Fortune 500 companies that have product packaged by Champion Brands, the company says.
Champion has 26 blending tanks, ranging from 1,500 to 34,000 gallons, feeding an elaborate pigging system designed to prevent cross product contamination. Rail siding and tanker truck offload locations provide the versatility to receive bulk fluids in sizes ranging from 5 gallons to 26,000 gallons.
Champion’s blow molding operation has the capabilities to produce HDPE and PVC bottles in sizes ranging from 2 oz. to 2.5 gallons in a wide range of colors. Champion’s bottle production reuses its regrind material, essentially recycling otherwise unusable plastic.
Seven lubricant filling lines package engine oils, hydraulic fluids, specialty oils, fuel additives and automotive fluids, including power steering fluid, brake fluid and tire sealant. Each line has specific types of products that it can package.
Champion Brands notes that it also has a state-of-the-art laboratory. While the lab’s primary function is to test the performance of products before they are packaged, the lab also has the tools and test equipment to perform chemical analysis of fluid composition.
