International Dispensing announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with ALPLA Group. As the first stage of the strategic alliance, IDC is in the process of transitioning its manufacturing platform to ALPLA’s injection molding plant in Toluca, Mexico, which will begin producing The Answer® tap in early first quarter 2021. In the near-term, ALPLA’s large-scale production facility will improve The Answer®’s costs and margins, increasing its attractiveness to customers and retailers. Going forward, ALPLA’s manufacturing scale and expertise will provide IDC with considerable opportunities for price-elasticity to support growth well into the future. In addition to these significant supply chain improvements, IDC has teamed up with a synergistic partner with strong capabilities to support IDC in multi-faceted ways. One of the global suppliers of plastic bottles and closures to the food & beverage and consumer goods industries, including many IDC potential customers, ALPLA has a presence in 46 countries, with 181 manufacturing sites and 7 R&D centers. The companies will collaborate to market IDC’s flexible packaging solutions around the world, leveraging IDC’s innovation and aseptic foodservice vision with ALPLA’s global sales force and relationships. The companies will also work together to improve and extend IDC’s existing intellectual property, as well as develop new product offerings. New products are likely to become commercially available in 2021. In addition, as things progress the IDC-ALPLA strategic alliance will jointly evaluate a future manufacturing platform to support growth, including eventual manufacturing in key local markets, resulting in reduced freight and duties, faster response time, and greater direct customer engagement. While COVID-19 slowed or temporarily shut down the global foodservice industry, IDC’s team has worked during the hiatus to improve its supply chain and strategic positioning, culminating in the ALPLA relationship. The pandemic has forced foodservice companies to re-think existing business models and practices, and IDC believes that in a post-COVID world, The Answer® and its safety features (microbe barrier, minimal surface exposure) will prove more important, if not indispensable, to foodservice operators everywhere.