Canadian firm Accu-Label Inc., located near Windsor, Ontario, can hardly get any closer to the United States. That is why the latter nation accounts for half of the market for its fruit and vegetable labelling and handling products. But from the time the company took its first steps south of the border 18 years ago, it has always been mindful of how to bridge the gap between the two countries.
Accu-Label sells the paper-based product, or price, look-up (PLU) labels that are fixed to fruits and vegetables, while its sister company, Ag-Tronic Control Systems Inc., makes the equipment that creates and applies them. Ag-Tronic also provides other packaging and automation technology for the agriculture industry, with demand especially growing in the U.S., which has a much longer growing season and wider market domestically and abroad for its fresh fruits and vegetables.
Joe Sleiman, president and owner of Accu-label and Ag-Tronic: “As a Canadian firm, we are laser-focused on serving our neighbours in the U.S.”
Sleiman moved into the U.S. market but quickly learned that the buy-local mentality there meant that “customers wanted a U.S. entity to service them.” In 2001, he set up Accu-label International Inc. in the Detroit area, just about a kilometre and a half away as the crow flies.
In order to service the ever-growing “support America-made” mindset and the growing market there, Accu-label and Agtronic have now set up a partnership agreement with a global distributor called Orora Packaging to help it compete more effectively in the U.S.
According to an article on theglobeandmail.com¸the companies’ experience in the United States is much like that of its Canadian customers in the food and agriculture industry. Joseph Sbrocchi, general manager of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, says there is a growing U.S. demand for the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers that the association’s 225 members produce. They are responding both by exporting –more than 60 percent of their products currently go south of the border– and setting up greenhouse operations in the U.S..
He says the U.S. presence makes financial sense, with transportation costs “going through the roof,” and the fact that Canadian growers are known for their greenhouse expertise and superior vegetables. “It’s not necessarily about ‘Making America Great Again,’ it’s more about sound economics and supplying the increasing demand for the product,” he says.
