Unicep shifting to four-day work week

SANDPOINT — Unicep Packaging, Inc. is shifting to a four-day work week.

Unicep, a contract packager for gels, liquids and creams, announced the move Friday, citing cost-reduction pressures from customers due to current economic conditions.

Company revenue remains strong. However, in response to customer pressures, UPI President Marcus Anderson said the company planned to immediately move from a three-shift operation to a four-day, ten-hour work schedule, running both a day and swing shift.

The shift change also will benefit employees with transportation cost savings, since they will be commuting to work just four days per week instead of five, Anderson said.

By expanding the day and swing shifts, UPI won’t see a reduction in available capacity or production volume which is critical to their current customer base. 

“We have experienced unprecedented growth and customer demand is still very strong,” said Anderson. “This change will allow us to better align our capacity and improve our equipment utilization to reduce our costs as much as possible.” 

UPI is a top employer in Bonner County, currently employing 165 people, up from 107 in May 2008.

Unicep was founded in the early 1990s by Sandpoint dentist Dr. John Snedden who put his idea for unit-dose packaging into production at the Bonner Business Center, a facility known then primarily as an incubator for start-up businesses.

    Beginning in 1991, the company created its innovative, “unit-dose” dispenser designed by Snedden.

    Today,  UPI has become a $15 million niche player with brand-name affiliations and the advantage of owning the proprietary unit-dose dispensers that started it all.

    From a 65,000-square-foot production and headquarters facility at the Sandpoint Industrial Park, it now mixes, manufactures and packages oral health and personal care products, as well as over-the-counter medicines for some very large players.