Compaction International: Finding Its Niche In The Nutraceuticals Market

Compaction International, Pineville, NC, is a division of Carolina Ingredients, which was founded in 1990 as a food ingredient distributor servicing clients from locations throughout the southeastern U.S. Carolina’s facilities inventory items such as acidulants, bakery items, fla­vor­ings, pre­servatives, phosphates, sweet­eners and starches. Responding to the growing strength of the nutraceuticals industry, Compaction International was established in April 2000, according to Doug Meyer-Cuno, president. “We started out through Carolina Ingredients as a supplier for the food industry but through our association with nutraceuticals customers and suppliers we felt the need to establish the Compaction International unit.” He ex­plained further, “We had a supplier that needed a product compacted and after a year of research in the marketplace, we felt that there was a niche for a contract manufacturer to compact inactive ingredients and excipients for the supplement industry.”

Mr. Meyer-Cuno explained Compaction’s function. “We will take a raw material that doesn’t have enough density, that is very fine and dusty, and run it between two counter rotating rolls. Once compacted by the chilsonator, the product must be granulated to a uniform particle size, which is done using a FitzMill granulator. Afterwards the product is sifted through mesh screens in order to meet the customer’s specifications,” he said. Compaction’s ability to create uniform products that can be converted to any mesh size affords consistency, function, control and increased efficiency in the customer’s production. The benefits of compaction include uniform particle size range, dust control, flow property control, bulk density control, particle hardness control and increased density levels.

Discussing the company’s future role in the nutraceuticals industry, Mr. Meyer-Cuno said it will continue to evolve as the industry evolves. “Companies will continue to look for niche, value oriented products for the consumer. Because the niche market will not be as large as the vitamin E market for example, our services will continue to be in demand because companies will not want to allocate their own resources to buy a compaction unit,” he said. “Consumers change their mind all the time and what is popular today may not be popular six months from now. That is where we come in because we can ‘turn on a dime’ and help our customers change their formulation if necessary or compact a new product for them without them having to handle additional manufacturing costs.”—R.M.

Compaction International
520 Eagleton Downs Drive, Suite D
Pineville, NC 28134
Telephone: 740-588-7636
Fax: 704-588-3828
Website: www.carolinaingredients.com