Max Flaming, right, president and founder of Maxco Supply in Parlier, poses with son Mark Flaming. File photo

Maxco Supply, a Parlier-based produce packaging design and manufacturing company founded in 1972, recently started operations for its newest plant in Fowler.

Maxco also provides value-added services such as equipment that glues boxes together, graphic and engineering design work for boxes and engineering and manufacturing of forming equipment that puts the boxes together.

The manufacturing facility covers 280,000 square feet on 26 acres. It is located near Golden State Boulevard and Manning Avenue.

Most of Maxco’s business dealings stay in California, but its products go as far as Oregon, Arizona and Mexico.

“We’ve been operational since the summer and we’ve been working the kinks out. Fowler is simply additional manufacturing space — we are not moving jobs from one location to another, we are adding jobs with more manufacturing space in Fowler,” said Maxco Vice President of Sales and Operations Mark Flaming.

In the long run, Flaming said that the Fowler plant could create around 40 jobs.

Flaming said that U.S. Department of Agriculture food purchasing programs helped stabilize markets after the onset of Covid-19, which created an increase in demand for Maxco.

Flaming said that food businesses are mostly inelastic, and whether we are in a good or bad economy, people still eat. Though eating habits might change, the produce business is generally very consistent.

Maxco has seen a drop in demand from the food service industry because of restrictions on restaurants, but flaming said it is going back up as online ordering and take out service increases

Flaming said that the company is looking to work with shippers and companies such as Amazon.

“We want to be prepared to service our customers needs no matter which way it goes. We are focused on anything that’s driving our customers needs,” Flaming said.

Though we are just at the beginning of the year, Flaming said that the rain is a positive sign for growers and farmers that will mean a higher demand for produce boxes.

“Produce containers are one of the few manufacturing areas that seem do be doing well. A lot of manufacturing jobs left the country and the state, a lot of businesses that are not ag related are leaving the state. Our customers — farmers, growers and marketers of produce — are all staying,” Flaming said.