WAUPUN — Eagle Flexible Packaging and the City of Waupun announced the construction of a new 52,000sqft facility in the Waupun Industrial Park.
The Waupun City Council approved the plans for construction and a land sale at the Common Council meeting held Tuesday, January 14, following a presentation of the plans.
Eagle is a family-owned business founded in 1994, with facilities and headquarters in Batavia, Illinois. They first came to Waupun in 2021 when they purchased the facility at 4 Taylor St, which had been previously vacant for several years. They have been in operation for three and a half years in that location.
According to City Administrator Kathy Schlieve, they’ve been in talks with the City about expansion for years.
“They’ve become a great community partner and have a vision for growth, and the project you’re going to hear about is really in support of that,” Schlieve said.
Scott Deringer, COO of Eagle Flexible Packaging, spoke at the meeting over Zoom after being introduced by Schlieve.
“It’s been nothing short of a great experience since we started our residency here in Waupun; we’ve met a lot of great people and had some excellent people joining our team,” Deringer said. “The growth there has certainly helped Eagle as well, and we knew that this is a place we would want to continue to expand.”
Deringer went on to describe how they worked with the City in purchasing several properties in the community, including the former RWI Pipe Fabricators facility at 1208 Wilson Dr following the retirement of Gregg Westra in 2024.
According to the press release, Eagle “has invested more than $3M in that facility, including facility improvements and the addition of state-of-the-art graphics equipment to support continued growth in Waupun.”
During this time they had been in talks with the City to purchase a five acre parcel in the Industrial Park across the street from the former RWI Pipe Fabricators building. After coming to an agreement with the City, the proposal was passed at Tuesday’s meeting and the land was sold to Eagle Flexible Packaging for $1 as a land incentive. The parcel had been owned by the City for about 22 years, where it had been an empty lot.
The new manufacturing facility will be over 52,000 square feet, with construction starting no later than June 1, 2025 and completing no later than December 1, 2025. The facility will have a Guarunteed Tax Value of $3.2 million for 2026/2027. The City will hook up utilities to the facility, along with the construction of a stormwater retention pond on an easement in an abutting parcel.
The new facility will expand on Eagle Flexible Packaging’s operations in producing laminate packaging for a wide array of products, including food, medical, pet, beverage, and more for many large companies including Walmart, Krogers, and Kwik Trip.
“The growth not only in the flexible packaging industry but also the organic growth from a lot of hard work of people in our organization has resulted in us about doubling in size over the last five years,” Deringer said. “It certainly requires additional space and we thought what better space than to continue to expand in Waupun where we have been supported very well. We are excited about the prospect of breaking this ground here as early as February or March and getting this 52,000sqft facility open and operational so we can continue to invest in new technology and equipment and new people.”
Plans for the facility were presented at the meeting but were not included in the meeting agenda packet.
Eagle Flexible Packaging employs 65 people at their Waupun facility, and hopes to create another 30 to 40 new jobs after the completion of their new facility to get operational, and as much as 60 total new jobs over the next five years.
