Assemblies Unlimited expands into a new Southern Region

Assemblies Unlimited Inc. (AUI), the contract packaging specialist based in Bloomingdale, Illinois, announced a Southern Region on Oct. 22. It covers Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and runs from a new sales office in Arlington, Texas, under Regional Sales Manager Kaleb Tueller, according to the company's release on PR Newswire.

The region is AUI's fourth, joining its Western, Central and Eastern regions. The company ties the move to steady growth in its Southern copacking network and rising demand from food, supplement and consumer goods brands that manufacture in the area. For an operations or procurement lead at one of those brands, the useful question is narrow and practical: what does a regional team change about getting product filled, packed and shipped?

Five partner sites behind the territory

The release describes the move as a sales territory expansion. According to AUI, its partner facilities in the South now include Decatur, Alabama, and the Texas cities of Fort Worth, Houston, Paris and Irving.

Between them, those sites cover powder filling and stick packs, SQF-certified secondary packaging and point-of-purchase display assembly. That mix suggests the region is set up well for dry products like supplements and powdered foods, plus the display builds a brand needs before a retail launch. A brand needing a liquid fill would want to ask about it directly, since none of the named Southern capabilities mention one.

That geography deserves a close look. The territory spans six states, but every named plant sits in Texas or Alabama. Because the release describes the list as current, it reads as a starting roster, not a fixed boundary. Still, for a brand in Shreveport or Tulsa, the distance from its own plant to the nearest partner line is the number that drives freight and turnaround.

Matching jobs to plants

AUI pairs matchmaking with project management. It chooses a partner facility for each project based on location and capability, then manages every stage of the job, from sourcing raw materials through food packaging, filling, kitting and fulfillment. Finished goods then ship straight to the customer's warehouse or distribution center. President Justin Dickert said the Southern network had become large enough to warrant a dedicated team of its own. Customers in Texas and neighboring states, he added, want a partner who knows their market and can quickly link them with the right plant.

A network model comes with a tradeoff. For brands that want a direct relationship with the plant manager running their line, an intermediary layer could feel like extra distance. For lean teams without dedicated packaging-sourcing staff, a single project owner handling sourcing, filling and logistics across sites is the main reason to hire a firm like AUI at all. Which group a brand falls into decides how much this regional office matters to it.

A sales lead from the automation side

Tueller works out of the Dallas area. His most recent work involved helping food, beverage and CPG manufacturers bring in automation and robotics. Earlier, he held roles in the industrial packaging supply chain and spent eight years in medical sales. He graduated from Utah State University.

He described Southern brands as fast-growing and in need of a partner that responds quickly and follows through, and said he plans to be their local contact backed by AUI's national copacker network. Time spent on the equipment side of food and CPG plants could help when a project has to be scoped against what a particular partner line can actually run. The release doesn't spell out his daily responsibilities beyond building the region.

An office map that keeps moving

Shaw framed the move as consistent with how AUI has grown since 1993: by going where its customers are. The next roster update will show how far that goes. Named partner plants in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana or Mississippi would show the network has filled out the rest of the territory the Arlington office now covers.