Bio-Packaging Builds Promising Outlook for KTM Industries

As Featured in the Vol. 6 No. 5 Fall/Winter 2008

Founded in 1997, KTM began by carving a market for its Magic Nuudles product; a bio-degradable building material sold in craft, hobby, school supply and specialty toy stores. While Magic Nuudles continues as a revenue generator for KTM, the company has diversified its expertise in lightweight bio-friendly materials into the packaging industry. Its Green Cell Foam shipping material is quickly becoming a recognized leader in the market, as companies are beginning to look for greener solutions to packaging. “We’re finding that more and more companies are looking for bio-based materials to substitute fossil fuel-based materials out of their packaging designs. We’re getting calls literally every day looking to replace polyethylene, polystyrene, polyurethanes, with something that is more sustainable and is easier on the environment,” said KTM President and CEO Tim Colonnese. One of those companies is Volvo. The automaker has been testing Green Cell Foam as a glass-packaging material for several years. It is now expanding its use of the material for use with other parts.

Using testing data from its partnership, KTM will be joining Volvo in presenting at the International Safe Transit Association International Transport Packaging Forum in Las Vegas next spring. Colonnese said the forum’s professional visibility adds credibility to the product and establishes KTM as a pioneer in the emerging industry. “Not only do we have customers out there that are using it, but we’re actually doing technical presentations at packaging forums like this that are basically attended by packaging engineers, and not by marketing people,” he said. White papers and journal articles are also supporting Green Foam as a leading bio-degradable packaging material.

KTM Industries was an inaugural awardee of the 21st Century Jobs Fund, receiving $2 million in 2006. The company continues to see revenue growth despite current economic challenges. “We’ve got tremendous opportunities to grow the company, first domestically and then internationally as we go forward,” Colonnese said. “We have come a long way, and we believe that the best is clearly in front of us.”