What Is IMPACK's Story?

The story behind the brand

IMPACK was founded in 2001 by the current president of the company: Dominic Thériault. 

It all started as an ambitious school project.

In 2000, Dominic set out to design and build a custom Automatic packer for a school project at Cascades in Montreal, Canada. The goal of this project was to find creative ways to improve a folder-gluer's productivity.

This inspired a whole new business startup idea.

The premise of our business and core product offerings to this day is based on the ultimate realization Dominic had in 2001. In Dominic's own words:

"There is a dire need for automation in the finishing department of every packaging producer out there."

From then on, Dominic committed the rest of his life towards finding solutions to automate the case packing process.

First, Dominic (in the center) hired a group of fellow students at his university of which Mathieu Tremblay (on the left) and Michel Beauséjour (on the right) are still with us today directing the ins and outs of the company.

Following that, our diligent accountant, Anne-Marie Cadieux, joined IMPACK and she still keeps a tight rein on all our finances to this day!

IMPACK then went through years of erratic development that was more akin to a student project than a “real business” but our client base continued to quickly grow.

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This Led to the Development of IMPACK's First 3 Product Lines:

  1. The Ergosa Packer: IMPACK’s Semi-Automatic packer with the performance of an Automatic packer. Today, the Ergosa is IMPACK's top sold machine and one of the only Semi-Automatic packers in the world.

  2. The Virtuo Packer: IMPACK's Automatic packer renowned as the most versatile and compact Automatic packer in the world capable of handling both carton and corrugated board.

  3. The MFA Batch Inverter: IMPACK’s inverter for crash-lock/auto-bottom boxes. It is the simplest and most affordable solution on the market for handling crash-lock boxes made of carton board.

 
Wondering What Machines Does IMPACK Offer?

 

What Are IMPACK's Main Machines?  
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Then, in 2005, IMPACK Became Ready to Face the US Market and Bring in Our Innovations.

Our machines quickly gained trust and recognition, thanks to their efficiency, durability, and user-friendly features. As more companies relied on them to streamline operations and boost productivity, we knew our innovations were revolutionizing the industry. The future looked bright for IMPACK.

Fast forward a few years of steady growth in the US market, IMPACK became ready for its next step.

 

In 2008, our first machines landed in the European market:

IMPACK's Ergosa packer and IMPACK's Virtuo packer.

Those first machines were delivered to our loyal client in Italy: Box Marche.

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Curious About Box Marche's Story and Their Results with IMPACK?

Find out how Box Marche dramatically improved their productivity and minimized physical strain with IMPACK's machines.

See Box Marche's Success Story  
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The future looked great and business was rapidly growing 

But then the global financial crisis hit...

IMPACK suffered and business became extremely difficult.  Our revenues heavily dropped day by day and the future looked bleak.

Nevertheless, Dominic’s vision remained unphased and his goals set in stone.

Slowly, we started to pick up the pieces of IMPACK back together while keeping our employees and being supported with government assistance.

The National Research Council of Canada was ready to assist the company, but we wanted to aim for more! They then helped us leverage our technology and patents to form a global partnership with a renowned company and a prominent leader in the packaging industry, Bobst.

 

In 2012, IMPACK formed a strong partnership with Bobst which gave us privileged access to a global sales team eager to offer IMPACK's machines.

Our partnership with Bobst provided us with invaluable insights into the packaging industry and challenged us to continue innovating our solutions to meet the ever-evolving needs of carton board and corrugated box manufacturers.

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As IMPACK evolved, our long-term strategies with Bobst couldn't find a common fit anymore.

And so our collaborative partnership ended amicably in 2019.

IMPACK’s solutions remain complementary to Bobst’s folder-gluers, and we still work together to this day but more on a project-by-project basis than an all-encompassing agreement.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic with the terrifying realization that we might face another great crisis like in 2008, but this time we experienced 70% business growth in 2021 and closed our biggest sales in IMPACK’s 20-year history.

Looking to the future, we have initiated daring projects as of 2021 and we’re really excited for what’s next for IMPACK.

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