Our Story

PDI was originally founded as a sales and service center in the Atlanta suburbs. The idea was simple, a happy customer is a repeat customer. As PDI moved into machine development and manufacturing, the basic idea remained the same – keep the customer happy! Reliability, compact footprint and standard industry controls and keys to the success of our designs. We take pride in the quality and craftsmanship of every machine that we manufacture. Each of our machines undergoes thorough testing before shipping to ensure reliability and minimize installation downtime. All our equipment is completely documented, and we use standard industry parts and suppliers to simplify spare parts procurement.

Our Team

Richard Fallas – President/CEO

Richard Fallas has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington. He spent several years developing high speed collating infeeds for his father’s (Dave Fallas) case packing company Fallas Automation and working for a control systems integration company in the Atlanta area. In the mid 90’s Richard founded PDI along with Dave Fallas as a sales and service company located in the north Atlanta area. The focus of PDI at the time was to generate sales by providing best in class service for his customers.

During his many trips to customer sites around the country, Richard realized there were several areas on a packaging line that were not being adequately addressed. The realization that case weighers and sealers located at the end of a packaging line were causing significant downtime was the impetus for developing the CSW case weigher and CTA case sealer. Both designs have significant advantages over competing designs and have been shown to increase overall line efficiencies. This was the beginning of the transformation of PDI from a sales and service center into a packaging machine original equipment manufacturer (OEM). The DPS series bulk fill by weight case packers soon followed in the PDI lineup. In 2002, Richard moved his young family back to Waco, Texas to take the role as Vice President of Technology and Customer Support for Fallas Automation. In 2005, the desire to be his own boss again had Richard restarting PDI as an OEM. Over the past almost 20 years, Richard has focused on providing his customers with machines that are out of the box reliable, simple to operate and energy efficient. In his spare time, Richard enjoys spending time outdoors especially hiking and enjoying the beauty of the natural world. Richard and his wife Jean have four children, and his family has been his biggest blessing in life.

Jean Fallas – Office Manager

Jean Fallas received an associate’s degree in applied science – computer data processing from McLennan Community College located in Waco, Texas, where she grew up.

Jean is the Office Manager at Packaging Distributors, Inc. She is the wife of PDI’s president, Richard Fallas, and has been working alongside him since the formation of the company. Her role in the company is to take care of all administrative needs such as: Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Billing, and Payroll. Customer satisfaction is very important for Jean, and she strives to make their experience with PDI as smooth as possible.

In her spare time, Jean enjoys travelling and learning about different cultures, which gives her a deeper understanding of different ways of life.

Troy Tucker – Warehouse Manager

Troy Tucker attended Texas State Technical College (TSTC) for an Electronics certificate and studied Industrial Maintenance and continued his education in Electronics/PLC’s and Power Transmissions. While in high school, Troy worked in an automotive shop, which led to him receiving a job in the machine shop Central Texas Iron Works after high school. This set the path for him to be hired by Smead Mfg. as a maintenance tech and then a maintenance supervisor. He remained at this job for 30 years. Troy finds satisfaction in repairing and improving mechanical processes.

After working for a big company most of his life, Troy began to seek a small company environment.

This led him to his current role at PDI, where he works as the warehouse manager. He has worked at his current role for the past 8 years. As part of the equipment building team, Troy is crucial in maintaining customer relationships. He does so by providing customer support after the equipment sale. Troy also provides internal shop support by ensuring certain parts are available and easy to find.

Troy states that taking care of customers is super important for a small company. He believes that the support customers receive from PDI keeps them coming back.

In Troy’s free time he enjoys spending time with his family, as well as working in his shop.

Shawn Firmin – CAD/Customer Support

Shawn Firmin received an Associate’s degree in Drafting and Design from Texas State Technical College (TSTC). This gave him a strong foundation in the technical skills needed to succeed in design engineering. Shawn has always been interested in design and problem-solving through auto mechanics and fabrication. This is what drew him to pursue a career in design engineering. After that, Shawn studied Business at Tarleton State University, which equipped him with valuable problem-solving and communication skills necessary to help contribute to the success of a company.

Shawn enjoys the challenge of problem-solving and finds satisfaction in seeing a design come to life. He is also passionate about the finishing details of a design, and strives to create products that are functional, aesthetically pleasing, and easy to assemble and maintain.

Shawn is excited to be a part of the team at PDI and to contribute his skills and knowledge to the company’s success. He has been a member of the PDI team for 17 years and has seen the company grow and evolve over that time. He is proud to be a part of such a successful organization.

In his spare time, Shawn enjoys overlanding and automotive fabrication. This allows him to be creative and use his engineering skills to build and modify vehicles.

Adolfo Balderas – Shop Manager

Adolfo Balderas attended Texas State Technical College (TSTC) to study automotive mechanics. His years of experience at PDI and similar companies makes him an expert in his field. Adolfo enjoys the hands-on aspect of his job, which involves building, completing, and maintaining machinery.

Adolfo joined the PDI team 12 years ago and currently holds the position of shop manager. As a shop manager, he oversees projects, manages employees, and ensures the smooth operation of the shop. Over the years, he has gained expertise in maintaining and troubleshooting machinery.

In his free time, Adolfo enjoys leisure activities such as watching movies and playing video games.

Environmental Impact

At the end of 2014, a 10 Kw solar system was installed at PDI. A year later, an additional 20 Kw was installed. Our solar system provides over 70% of our total energy needs. Our facility in McGregor, Tx is 12,000 sqf with 10,000 sqf heated and air conditioned so the solar system is supplying a significant amount of energy – especially during a hot Texas summer day.

In 2012, all single phase induction motors were removed from all PDI designed machines and replaced with 3-phase motors and inverters. A single-phase induction motor only converts about 40% of the electrical energy into mechanical work. Before this change was made, a CSW case weigher with a single phase motor would consume approximately 7 amps at 120 VAC. After the change to three phase motors and inverters was made, the current consumption was reduced to approximately 3 amps at 120 VAC. This is a considerable savings in energy over multiple lines.

There has been a focus at PDI over the past 10-years to remove as many air cylinders from our designs as possible. In addition to the issues with compressed air quality and lack of control with air cylinders, using compressed air to transfer energy is very inefficient. Compressed air is one of the most expensive sources of energy in a plant. The overall efficiency of a typical compressed air system can be as low as 10-15%. The introduction of efficient, reliable and cost competitive brushless DC motors with hall effect sensors has allowed us to convert some of our equipment such as the CTA case sealer to all electric power – requiring no compressed air at all. Other designs such as the DPS fill by weight case packer has seen the number of air cylinders reduced by 70%.

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