October 2004
Info Provided By:
Bridget Zemlo
 Phoenix
Closures is a full-service manufacturing firm specializing
in injection-molded closures. Since 1890 Phoenix Closures
has grown its business based upon “continuous
improvement through comprehensive service and technical
excellence.” To uphold their technical excellence
on the design and engineering side, Phoenix Closures
uses SolidWorks CAD software.
Closure with heavier construction used
for special applications where saftey and/or drop test
scores might be important.
As part of the packaging industry Phoenix Closures
serves the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, automotive,
health and beauty markets. Examples of products the
company has designed and manufactured include custom
milk caps for Dean Foods Milk Chugs, Land O’ Lakes
Grip N’ Go milk, as well as custom closures with
the AccuSeal™ sealing system for Nestle’s
Nestea and Nescafe Frothe.
Phoenix Closures designs its products in SolidWorks
now, but had previously used AutoCAD. When looking to
switch from AutoCAD, the company considered Inventor,
Solid Edge, and Pro/E in addition to SolidWorks. Based
upon recommendations from others as well as from their
own research, they ultimately chose SolidWorks. “The
eDrawing feature was a great selling point, in addition
to the user-friendly aspect of SolidWorks,” Bridget
Zemlo, Engineer, explains.
 SolidWorks
is used for the product design of the company’s
closures and containers, as well as its machine and
mechanical parts. Zemlo says the tool has been “extremely
useful,” not only to engineering and design but
also sales and marketing. “We can email eDrawings
of the SolidWorks designs to the salespeople and our
customers. Since they can rotate and move the design
they get a much better feel for its capabilities than
what they could see on a hardcopy,” she attests.
SolidWorks has improved the efficiency and quality of
their product development process.
Phoenix Closures credits their success with SolidWorks
in part to their reseller. “Graphics Systems has
been extremely helpful and very quick to respond to
any questions we had,” Zemlo affirms. Between
Zemlo and her co-worker, Darren Nickerson, one attends
almost every SolidWorkout—Graphics Systems’
free monthly technical sessions. “We find the
SolidWorkouts valuable,” she declares. “Even
if the topic doesn’t relate precisely to us, we
can go and ask questions pertaining particularly to
our designs.”
Phoenix Closures employs 330 people in 2 locations:
Naperville, IL and Davenport, Iowa. For more information
please visit www.phoenixclosures.com.
All Designs compliments of Phoenix Closures.
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Standard closure with continuous
thread. Available in various sizes from 22mm to
120mm.
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Closure designed to fit a specific
bottle finish. |
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| Closure with reverse side taper. |
Volcano Bottle. Phoenix Closures
is often asked to design matching containers and
container finishes in addition to closures. |
If your company is interested in becoming a Spotlight
Customer
contact us by email
or call 1-800-454-2233 x1117
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