Bema has a long history dating back to the mid-fifties. The company was founded by Sam Shaw in 1957 and started with one bottom-seal bag machine. Bema was first incorporated under the name of “Bema Transparent Bag Company” and was the first company to make bags for such businesses as Mars Candy, Jewel-Osco grocery stores and Burny Brothers Bakery. The company was located on the South Side of Chicago at 1601 S. Laflin Ave.

After only six months of operation, another bag machine was added and the company continued to grow. By 1959, just two years after it was founded, Bema had three bottom-seal bag machines, three side-weld bag machines and one four-color press. For the next ten years, the company continued to expand its operations and moved the facility in 1969 to its current location in Elmhurst.

The next major expansion at the Elmhurst location for Bema came in the form of blown film extrusion. In 1974, Bema incorporated five blown film extrusion lines into the operation. Extrusion allowed for printing and converting operations all under one roof; there was really nothing Bema couldn’t do as it pertained to processing polyethylene film. Having this new and exciting capability spawned a host of research and development projects that sparked interests from various large corporations. One company, ITW Corporation, was very interested in the stretch film technology Bema was working on. So interested, in fact, that ITW bought the company in 1981.

After a five-year run with ITW, Sam saw an opportunity to buy the company back and took it. Shortly after, the company moved its focus from research and development to the form of a “job shop” production facility. A six-color press was added and Bema continued to expand its polyethylene processing capabilities. Throughout the next 13 years, Bema’s resume of customers extended to include Lane Bryant (Brylane), Sherwin Williams, American Licorice, Alpha Baking and other well-known companies.

Sam elected to put the company up for sale and it was sold in August of 1999 to Glen Galloway. The company’s name changed to Bema Incorporated. The main focus of the revitalized company was to expand sales/marketing and improve upon customer service. In 2008, Bema eliminated blown film extrusion and, instead, purchases its film. The company has further expanded its capabilities and includes:

• Ten-color process printing
• Solventless laminations
• Specialty operations incorporating all aspects of converting, pouching, slitting and bag making

To improve quality and customer response time, Bema has installed a state of the art Technical Center, which incorporates digital pre-press and plate making from start to finish. With added processing capabilities and the focus on customer service, the modernized company has tripled in sales and has more resources to handle specific customer needs. Although the company has seen unprecedented growth, Bema’s operational structure still remains focused on vertical integration, flexibility in manufacturing and providing unmatched customer service to all customers, large and small alike.