Brandon Kale, Plant Manager, Paragon Films

In an interview with Invest:, Brandon Kale, plant manager of Paragon Films, discussed the factors that have supported the company’s long-term growth in Alexander County, including a strong local workforce, strategic infrastructure, and a commitment to continual improvement towards a more sustainable manufacturing future. “We integrate post-consumer recycled material into our products without sacrificing performance. We describe that philosophy as sustainability without sacrifice,” Kale said.

What has made Alexander County a successful long-term home for Paragon Films?

A big portion of our success comes down to the people. The local workforce has been a great attribute to the success we have seen here in the community.

Paragon Films is based in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and the company came to Alexander County in 2005. The operation started in a speculative building that was a good fit for the company. I joined in 2010, when the facility expanded, and we experienced significant growth in North Carolina from 2018 until a couple of years ago.

The county has also been an outstanding partner. We have worked together on grants, expansion projects, and opportunities available through the state and local community. That support has been instrumental in helping us continue to grow.

The industrial park has also been a major advantage. When Paragon Films evaluates where to add manufacturing capacity, we look at the available workforce, the location, and the ability to expand. The original facility was approximately 50,000 square feet. It expanded to about 120,000 square feet in 2010, and today we operate approximately 190,000 square feet under roof, along with a 70,000-square-foot warehouse nearby.

Why has Alexander County been such a strategic location for your operations?

Rail access is a huge part of our business. Alexander County has its own railroad company operating between the county and Statesville, and we have built a great relationship with the team that services our facility and supports the volume of material we bring in.

When Paragon Films selected this location in 2005, rail service was one of the biggest attractions. It was one of the primary reasons the company chose Alexander County, and it continues to be an important advantage today.

The location also gives us room to grow. As we look at future manufacturing capacity, we continue to benefit from having space available for expansion.

What differentiates Paragon Films’ products in today’s packaging industry?

Our products are focused on unitization, including wrapping pallets and loads for transportation. Many competitors focus on selling thicker-gauge films. We’ve always been driving the thinner, stronger, greener approach. Our objective is to help customers move to a thinner-gauge film while maintaining the same load containment they would achieve with a thicker product. That allows them to reduce material usage without sacrificing performance.

Sustainability has become increasingly important throughout the plastics industry. One of our biggest priorities is reducing the amount of virgin plastic being used, which is where post-consumer recycled material, or PCR, comes into play.

Paragon Films is considered one of the leaders in PCR films. We integrate post-consumer recycled material into our products while maintaining our thin-gauge approach. We describe that philosophy as sustainability without sacrifice.

By producing thinner films and incorporating recycled content, we are reducing virgin plastic from multiple directions while still delivering the same performance our customers expect.

How do you develop and retain talent in Alexander County?

Alexander County has historically been furniture country, so there are not many plastics manufacturers from which we can recruit experienced employees. We understand that most people who join us will require training. We bring employees into the operation, teach them extrusion and our manufacturing processes, and help them become productive as quickly as possible. The local talent pool has consistently demonstrated the ability to learn quickly and adapt.

We also work with community colleges and universities. Our management trainee program focuses heavily on engineers, and we strive to maintain a balance between employees who have advanced through the organization and engineers entering the workforce.

I am a mechanical engineer from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Combining experienced employees with new engineering talent allows us to introduce new technologies while preserving the operational knowledge built within the company.

How are technology and automation changing your workforce needs?

Most of the equipment in our North Carolina facility has been installed within the past several years, so we operate with modern technology.

That means our maintenance employees need to understand control systems, programmable logic controllers, and other advanced technologies so they can operate, troubleshoot, and maintain the equipment.

Automation is another important area of focus. As manufacturers continue introducing automation, the demand for highly skilled employees increases as well. Those positions also create higher-paying career opportunities, making workforce development even more important.

What opportunities do you see for future investment in North Carolina?

Paragon Films experienced significant growth in North Carolina over several years. More recently, some of our other facilities have received additional investment, allowing our local operation time to optimize the capacity we have today.

The company recently acquired a facility in Mexico. Our Oklahoma headquarters is also developing an experience center that will provide education, customer support, demonstrations, and training related to stretch film.

As Paragon Films continues to grow, there will be opportunities for different types of investment. I cannot predict exactly what those investments will look like, but the company continues evaluating opportunities for diversification and expansion.

Our Alexander County operation still has considerable room to grow. Our warehouse could almost triple in size, creating additional manufacturing space and allowing us to add more production capacity in the future.

What makes Alexander County attractive for other manufacturers?

Alexander County is a rural community where many people have grown up around farming and agriculture. Those experiences often develop mechanical aptitude that transfers naturally into manufacturing.

People understand equipment, enjoy working with machinery, and learn new processes quickly. We also see a genuine willingness to help. There is a family-oriented mentality here where people want to contribute, perform well, and support one another.

That attitude makes a tremendous difference in a manufacturing environment. There is a genuine earnestness to want to get involved, help, and perform.

What are your priorities for the plant moving forward?

One of the things we value most is our participation in the Great Places to Work survey. What makes that certification meaningful is that it reflects direct feedback from employees across all of our facilities.

We have earned that certification for three consecutive years, and our goal is to continue doing so by listening to our people. We want to understand what improvements we can make, how we can simplify jobs, increase productivity, and create an even better workplace.

People come to work to support themselves and their families, but it also matters that they enjoy where they work and the people they work alongside.

We manufacture plastic stretch film, but we are also impacting people’s lives. The more we can build people up and create a positive workplace, the better the outcomes will be from financial, safety, and operational perspectives.

How is Paragon Films helping build the next generation of manufacturing talent?

We have developed a strong relationship with the local school system, including both the middle schools and the high school. Every year, we host science, technology, engineering, and mathematics tours for students, typically eighth-grade classes.

Many students still have an outdated perception of manufacturing. By bringing them into our facility, they can see modern equipment, understand how the operation works, and ask questions about manufacturing careers.

Those tours happen at an important stage in students’ lives as they begin thinking about career paths and future opportunities. Working alongside the county government and the school system helps us introduce young people to manufacturing while building the next generation of talent.