None better than Unicep

Sandpoint firm tabbed 'Business of the Year'

SANDPOINT — For the sweeping impact it has funneled into local economy — from significant job creation to its rocketing growth — perhaps no local company is more deserving of the first annual Bonner County "Business of the Year" award than Sandpoint's Unicep Packaging.

The 13-year-old firm that generated 54 new employment opportunities this year almost needed an encore last night after founder and CEO John Snedden accepted the award from the Bonner County Economic Development Corporation to a rousing applause at a reception attended by 75 at Coldwater Creek's atrium.

Unicep's explosive rise in manufacturing jobs in the last 12 months represented a whopping 76 percent growth over the prior year, making it the fastest growing company in Bonner County during that period.

"Over the past three years, manufacturing jobs in our county have increased by 21 percent while Idaho has lost 14 percent and the nation 16 percent," said BCEDC Executive Director Mark Williams, who presented Snedden with a plaque.

"This is particularly significant since these jobs pay 38 percent higher than other industries. We feel it is time to recognize the impact of these employers, and Unicep Packaging has been a shining example of job creation in the manufacturing sector."

Started in 1991 by Snedden — a second-generation Sandpoint resident — as a company that manufactured dental products, Snedden soon invented a way of delivering a product that had far more extensive uses than dental product application.

His invention was so widely received that it quickly helped put Unicep on the map to customers throughout the United States, created a slate of new manufacturing jobs and has been a pivotal factor in helping to diversify Bonner County's economic base.

What Snedden, a Sandpoint High School graduate, came up with was a tiny package with a pull-off tip and a "nozzle" that made application easy to control.

Now with more than 80 customers and over 90 employees who work in three shifts five days a week, Unicep started in an office in downtown Sandpoint and a few bays at the Bonner Business Incubator with Snedden, Steve Dilts and two others.

"We are very pleased to be selected, considering the number of successful manufacturing companies in the County", said Snedden, who graduated with honors in pediatric dentistry at the University of Washington Dental School. "The excellence demonstrated by local companies such as Coldwater, Litehouse, Litehouse Custom Printing, Thorne Research, Diedrich Coffee Roasters, Panhandle Bank and Riley Creek constantly serves as a motivator for what can be done with vision and execution.

"All of us at Unicep are very privileged to have these types of role models that challenge the Unicep Packaging staff to set higher and higher goals."

Though Snedden's original idea did not catch on with the dental industry, the convenient packaging concept in the personal care and beauty market took off like a rocket and hasn't slowed down.

Unicep's single-dose packaging, which guarantees a fresh product with every use, began to turn head, quickly caught on, and the company's phone hasn't stopped ringing. Customers began seeking them out.

Part of it was because only two other companies made little packages with break-off tips, but required runs of at least 5 million. Unicep, however, was able to put out smaller runs for clinical trials and start-up companies.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

As requirements for infection control become increasingly more stringent, a hole in the market opened up for a package that could keep materials clean and replace jars and brushes.

Suddenly the little Sandpoint-based company that was struggling to gain a foothold in the dental industry had created a niche.

Part of Unicep's success was tied to the skyrocketing growth of biotechnology. Pharmaceutical companies have a higher profit margin than many other types of businesses, and medical markets tend to be more stable.

But Unicep's evolution from a tiny start-up company that sprang from a business incubator on North Boyer 13 years ago is far from over. The company announced last March it is prepared to capitalize on growth with as $5 million newly-completed plant expansion that will encompass 64,000-square feet.

It also includes more product-mixing capabilities since many customers who utilize Unicep's services market the product instead of produce it. Eighty percent of its customers ship products to Sandpoint, and Unicep puts the gel or liquid into the packages.

"The companies I mentioned earlier and many others are always looking for ways to give back to our community," said Snedden, who raised four children with his wife, Mary. "To me, this is one of the highest measures of success in a Bonner County business."