11 minute read
SEARCHING FOR A SILVER LINING
Chesapeake’s Philadelphia plant: Ensure jobs for the current employees and make sure its current customers were taken care of.
Th e long-tenured employees of Weber—one was retiring after 51 years at the time of our visit—were the ones who stuck with the change of ownership and remained loyal. “We have a group of individuals here who understood at the beginning, saw the challenge we were facing, and saw the growth of the company,” says Jim III.
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Zambon Bergvall recalls the day in 2013 when Doherty Jr. passed away. “I had just started my senior year at Villanova when I had heard that my grandfather had passed away,” she recalls. “My dad and I went to the plant to be with everyone as the news was being shared. I appreciated the love and stories that everyone shared at that time. My grandfather had close relationships with employees across the company.”
Th is familylike atmosphere pervades everything the company does. It is useful in the marketplace, too. “Customers like that we’re family-owned,” says Kevin Doherty. “Th ey like the story; they like the banter between our families; they get a kick out of it. They root for us because some of them have the same story themselves.”
Commenting on the longevity of some of Weber’s current customers, he adds, “If you’re aligned with the right people, then their growth becomes your growth. We’re partnered with some good customers that have been very loyal to us.”
Resilience in the Face of Challenges
Commenting on current challenges in the industry and the aftereff ects of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone on the Weber team agrees that the company’s long-maintained employee, customer, and vendor relationships have insulated them from the most damaging market conditions, namely extended lead times and scarce labor.
Says Jim Zambon: “I think [the pandemic] has fortifi ed relationships—vendor and professional relationships, customer relationships, equipment relationships, employee relationships. And I think that’s probably the key thing that most successful independents do very well: Th ey establish those key relationships with vendors who are going to do whatever it takes to get us the raw material the same way that customers rely on us to get them their boxes.”
Ryan Zambon adds, “If you’d gone back fi ve years and said, ‘You’re going to lose dozens of people all at once across your whole company,’ I’m not so sure we would have been so prepared to work through it. I think the pandemic has taught us that we have really good tenacity, and our resilience is certainly strengthened and improved by the challenge. You get harder steel through fi re.”
Outlook
Weber is a member of a distinct class of independents that has shrunk with industry consolidation—independent corrugator plants without mill affi liation or sheet feeder ownership. “Th e competitive landscape is very diff erent,” says Kevin Doherty. “In the past fi ve years, our biggest competitors have been swallowed up or sold. And as soon as they sell, they’re diff erent. Th at has created opportunities for us.”
Adds Jim III, “We’ve had our fair share of off ers to take out the corrugator and become part of a sheet operation, but there is nothing like having your own corrugator and being nimble. We’ve never been one to follow the herd instinct.”
He says he thinks independents are best suited to the changes ahead: “You have to see what the new world is going to bring and adapt to it in many ways. I think that’s what independents have done so well over their history.”
Th e company credits its AICC relationships in their success story as well. Bob Doherty tells a story of a major account early on in their business that needed a three-color box, which Weber did not have the capability to print. Weber approached Schiff enhaus Packaging, another AICC member, to look at converting the box to preprinted linerboard. “I called Anton Schiff enhaus, and he treated me like a son,“ Doherty recalls. “I went back to the customer and said I think I have a solution. Th at whole thing with Schiff enhaus got us that customer’s business for another seven or eight years. Th at’s what AICC was all about.”
Kevin Doherty adds, “I’m the only sales manager here. You go to AICC meetings, and you talk to four or fi ve others. It’s very helpful to fi nd other people you’re in sync with.”
Jim III, for his part, contributed his time and expertise to AICC’s growth, serving six years on the AICC board of directors, from 1994 through 2000, fi rst as a regional vice president for the Mid-Atlantic states and then as a director at large.
In a video presentation marking Weber’s 125th Anniversary, shown at AICC’s 2018 Spring Meeting in Phoenix, Jim III closes with the words, “Th e future looks very bright for Weber Display & Packaging.” Th e company’s operating philosophy, its long-term, loyal relationships with employees, customers, and vendors, and its Doherty and Zambon family heritage will prove his words true for many years to come.
Steve Young is AICC’s ambassador-at-large. He can be reached at 202-297-0583 or syoung@ aiccbox.org.
BREAKING DOWN BOXES
Compelling Conversations with Entrepreneurs with Hosts Gene Marino and Joe Morelli
Subscribe Wherever You Listen to Podcasts AICCbox.org/Boxes
By Robert Bittner
Well before COVID-19, boxmakers and other manufacturers were challenged with labor shortages. Now, as the box business booms, the ongoing lack of workers is aff ecting growth, delivery times and fulfi llment, and customer service.
“Labor has been challenging across the board—from drivers to warehouse to production,” says Finn MacDonald, president of Independent II.
It isn’t just entry-level employees who are hard to come by. “We have highly skilled, experienced operators in converting,” MacDonald says, “and they’re getting to the point where they’re looking
at retiring. So we have an experienced workforce that is, essentially, aging out, which raises the challenge of training a new generation of craftspeople. How do you train printers in the art of printing? How do you train die-cut operators or teach the art of stacking, the art and fi nesse of gluing? We face that challenge day in and day out.”
Qualifi ed Strategies
Boxmakers are trying several diff erent strategies to meet labor challenges while continuing to develop a strong workforce. Some are increasing collaborations with high schools, trade schools, and community colleges to nurture an informed and skilled workforce for the future. Some are changing how they recruit and retain workers. And some are evaluating which steps in the boxmaking process can benefi t from additional automation, freeing up existing employees to shift into positions currently going unfi lled.
Christine V. Walters, an independent industry consultant with FiveL Co., has seen some manufacturers go even further to fi nd the workers they need. “Th eir philosophy is, if we’re having trouble fi nding enough qualifi ed people to fi ll our jobs, maybe our qualifi cations aren’t what they need to be in light of the current climate,” she says. “So they’re making adjustments. I’m seeing employers asking if new hires really need to come in with two or three years of experience. Maybe one year is enough. Maybe six months is enough. Do we really care if you have a high school diploma or GED? Maybe not. I’ve seen employers eliminating testing for marijuana and other drugs and relaxing their standards regarding background checks. People are reaching out to populations that they might not have reached out to before—including so-called second-chance hiring programs that serve people with criminal histories.”
Donna Roberts, human resource manager at SMC Packaging Group, has mixed feelings about lowering qualifi cations across the board. “Having high expectations is important,” she says. “Gallup polls will tell you that 80% of people will rise to meet your expectations.”
At the same time, she notes that many of the most successful people at SMC did not come to the company with a full complement of skills. “We taught them those skills. So a willingness to learn is important,” she says. “Character is also very important to us. We can absolutely give people the training they need to run machinery and make boxes. What we can’t train people on are things like aptitude and capabilities and character. Th ose have to come with the candidate and are not negotiable. I would not lower my standards on those.
“I do think we’re going to have to take on a bigger burden of skilling people up for the work we need them to do,” Roberts continues. “We’re going to have to help young people develop the work ethic that we used to just naturally see 20, 30 years ago. When you teach people to work, show them they have value, and support and appreciate them, they’ll rise to your standard. Leadership really has shifted from supervising to focusing more on equipping, supporting, and training.”
Connections and Careers
Roberts believes employers may need to adjust how they recruit if they want to reach today’s workforce. “I was at an HR conference recently,” she recalls, “and some of the individuals there were really frustrated with their recruiting eff orts. Th ey had published some ads and put hiring signs on their front lawn, and they didn’t understand why people weren’t beating down their doors to get a job there. Th ey weren’t even getting applications.”
For Roberts, the reason was clear: “Th e next generation doesn’t do business that way. Th ey’re not driving around looking at the outside of your building deciding whether they want to work there. Th ey also probably have outdated ideas of what a manufacturing career looks like. Th ey’re thinking ‘dark, dirty, dangerous assembly lines,’ and we’ve got to get them past those images.”
SMC has had success using social media to deliver a more accurate, more appealing story to younger workers. Instagram and Facebook have been the company’s main channels; others may fi nd Twitter, TikTok, or YouTube more eff ective. Th e key, Roberts says, is to know your audience and know where they spend their time online. Th en create promotions tailored to those channels and
—Finn MacDonald, president, Independent II
to your target market. “We’ve gotten a lot of interest that way,” she notes.
Once a potential employee is interested, the company encourages an in-person tour. “When we bring candidates in, we always give them a tour,” Roberts says. “I want them to see what people are doing and see if that is for them before they make a decision.”
Walters recommends highlighting, early on, the benefi ts of building a career in the industry. “Yes, the fast-food place down the street might pay a higher hourly rate at the start,” she says, “but where will that job take you? What other benefi ts can they off er? How much training and professional development will you get? Th is kind of indirect compensation is something boxmakers could emphasize from the very fi rst interview.
“It’s also important to pay attention to what’s happening once you’ve got someone in the door, especially if you’re bringing them in with less knowledge, skills, or abilities than they otherwise would have had,” Walters continues. “Th is is where it can really help to [off er] a more extensive onboarding experience, a longer orientation period, partnering and job shadowing relationships—those sorts of things. Th at gives you a foundation from which to make sure these folks get the training and skills they need to do the job. And you’d hope that new hires would then see the time and investment you’re putting into them and feel more committed to their jobs and the company. Th e more we can engage our folks, the better.”
Finally, Walters believes it’s important to learn from your current employees, especially your star performers. Interview them—she refers to this as a “stay” interview, as opposed to an “exit” interview—and ask, What keeps you here? What do you appreciate about this company? Why is this a good place to work? “Use that information when presenting your company to potential employees. Your long-term employees can be some of your very best sales and marketing people.”
Turning to Technology
When seeking creative solutions to workforce development, it’s important that nothing be kept off the table. MacDonald notes that his company is looking at how to be competitive and creative when it comes to both pay and benefi ts, how to best manage the calendar workweek and various shifts—for example, the cost, livability, and sustainability of what a second or third shift would mean for a Saturday—and how those changes might impact current and future employees.
Traditionally, off ering more work hours meant more dollars in employees’ pockets, MacDonald points out, and that was seen as a good thing. But nowadays,
Image courtesy of SMC Packaging Group.
SMC Packaging took an outside-the-box approach to address its hiring needs, which included creating this ad to catch the eye of potential talent.
