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A PUBLICATION OF AICC, THE INDEPENDENT PACKAGING ASSOCIATION
EMBRACING DISRUPTION
Industry players continue to meet customer demand with flexo and litho, even in the face of digital’s steady rise
July/August 2018 Volume 22, No. 4
ALSO INSIDE Vision Beyond Vision 100 Years and Counting A Matter of Decision
TABLE OF CONTENTS July/August 2018 • Volume 22, Issue 4
COLUMNS
3
CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
4
SCORING BOXES
8
LEGISLATIVE REPORT
16
MEMBERS MEETING
21
ASK RALPH
22
SELLING TODAY
28
TACKLING TRENDS
30
LEAN LEARNINGS
32
LEADERSHIP
FEATURES
36
DESIGN SPACE
52
70
THE ASSOCIATE ADVANTAGE
72
WHAT THE TECH?
74
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
80
THE FINAL SCORE
52 EMBRACING DISRUPTION
58
Industry players continue to meet customer demand with flexo and litho, even in the face of digital’s steady rise
58
VISION BEYOND VISION Companies are going beyond the visual aspects of packaging, catering to a full sensory experience
62
DEPARTMENTS
62
100 YEARS AND COUNTING One company, despite not existing for more than 30 years, continues to impact the entire industry
66
A MATTER OF DECISION Appropriately evaluating your presses is the first step to boosting productivity
14
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
41
GOOD FOR BUSINESS
46
MEMBER PROFILE
78
ICPF UPDATE
66
One company has had a century-long impact that, despite not existing for more than 30 years, continues to be felt across an entire industry BY IAN CARLTON
BoxScore is published bimonthly by AICC, The Independent Packaging Association, PO Box 25708, Alexandria, VA 22313, USA. Rates for reprints and permissions of articles printed are available upon request. The statements and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of AICC. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any editorial or advertising matter at its discretion. The publisher is not responsible for claims made by advertisers. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to BoxScore, AICC, PO Box 25708, Alexandria, VA 22313, USA. ©2018 AICC. All rights reserved.
Visit www.aiccboxscore.org for Member News and even more great columns. Scan the QR code to check them out! BOXSCORE www.aiccbox.org
1
OFFICERS Chairman: Al Hoodwin, Michigan City Paper Box Co. First Vice Chairman: Joe Palmeri, Jamestown Container Companies Vice Chairman: Jay Carman, StandFast Packaging Vice Chairman: John Forrey, Specialty Industries/Krafcor/ NuPack Printing Vice Chairwoman: Jana Harris, Harris Packaging/ American Carton DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE Kevin Ausburn, SMC Packaging Group Matt Davis, Packaging Express Eric Elgin, Oklahoma Interpak Marco Ferrara, Cartones Sultana Finn MacDonald, Independent II Nelva Walz, Michigan City Paper Box DIRECTORS Doug Rawson, Superior Lithographics David DeLine, DeLine Box Company Justin Mathes, Vanguard Companies Mike Schaefer, Tavens Packaging & Display Gary Brewer, Package Crafters Inc. Guy Ockerlund, OxBox Pedro R. Aguirre Martinez, Tecnología de Cartón Joe Hodges, Mid-Atlantic Packaging Larry Grossbard, President Container Group Peter Hamilton, Rand-Whitney Corporation John Franciosa, McLeish Corr-A-Box, Coyle Packaging Group Kim Nelson, Royal Containers Ltd. President: A. Steven Young, AICC Immediate Past Chairman: Tony Schleich, Lawrence Paper Company, American Packaging Division Chairman, Past Chairmen’s Council: Mark Williams, Richmond Corrugated
Secretary/General Counsel: David P. Goch, Webster, Chamberlain, and Bean Counsel Emeritus: Paul H. Vishny, Esq.
SUBMIT EDITORIAL IDEAS, NEWS & LETTERS TO: BoxScore@theYGSgroup.com
EMERGING LEADER BOARD DELEGATES Josh Sobel, Jamestown Container Companies Terri-Lynn Levesque, Royal Containers Ltd.
CONTRIBUTORS Mike D'Angelo, Vice President Maria Frustaci, Director of Administration and Director of Latin America Cindy Huber, Director of Meetings and Conventions Chelsea May, Member Services Coordinator Laura Mihalick, Senior Meetings Manager Taryn Pyle, Director of Training, Education and Professional Development Alyce Ryan, Marketing Associate Richard M. Flaherty, President, ICPF
ASSOCIATE MEMBER DIRECTORS Chairman: Ed Gargiulo, Equipment Finance Corp. Vice Chairman: David Burgess, JB Machinery Secretary: Pat Szany, American Corrugated Machine Corp. Director: Joe Morelli, Huston Patterson Printers Immediate Past Chairman: Jeff Pallini, Fosber America ADVISORS TO THE CHAIRMAN Kim Nelson, Royal Containers Ltd. Ed Gargiulo, Equipment Finance Corp. Jim Akers, Akers Packaging PUBLICATION STAFF Publisher: A. Steven Young, syoung@aiccbox.org Editor: Virginia Humphrey, vhumphrey@aiccbox.org EDITORIAL/DESIGN SERVICES The YGS Group • www.theYGSgroup.com Vice President: Jack Davidson Senior Managing Editor: Ashley Reid Senior Editor: Sam Hoffmeister Copy Editor: Steve Kennedy Associate Editor: Drew Bankert Creative Director: Serena L. Spiezio Art Director: Jason Deller Account Manager: Brian Hershey
ADVERTISING Information: Virginia Humphrey, vhumphrey@aiccbox.org Opportunities: Howard Neft, InTheKnow Inc. 847-899-7104 • thneft@aol.com Taryn Pyle 703-535-1391 • tpyle@aiccbox.org AICC PO Box 25708 Alexandria, VA 22313 Phone 703-836-2422 Toll-free 877-836-2422 Fax 703-836-2795 www.aiccbox.org
ABOUT AICC AICC, The Independent Packaging Association, is uniting and celebrating the success of inspired, independent packaging companies. We are a growing membership association which has served independents since 1974. WHEN YOU INVEST AND ENGAGE, AICC WILL DELIVER SUCCESS.
Chairman’s Message
Help Wanted
O
ne of the most critical issues facing all independent manufacturers is the lack of qualified workers. With the U.S. unemployment rate at 3.9 percent and expected to hit 3.5 percent in 2019, the issue will only become more challenging for all of us. As independents, we don’t have the same tools available to us as the integrated makers. We can’t shift work to plants where employees are more available. I overheard an interesting comment that many of the integrated companies have shifted work to Mexico, not for the lower labor costs, but just because they have workers available there. We need to change the paradigm of what defines a successful business. In days past, the number of employees you had defined how successful you were. More employees meant more success. We now need to change the gauge of success to how few employees you have. “I am able to convert X MSF of corrugated material with only X employees.” We need to do more with less. The answer, of course, is automation. Because of the resources and the amount of machinery that integrated producers purchase, they are able to better dictate to the machine manufacturers what they need to automate their segment of the business. As independent manufacturers, we also need automated solutions that are focused more on our quick-turn, niche projects that the integrated manufacturers don’t want to touch. But how can we get these automated solutions developed by our smaller independent plants in isolation? I argue that we can’t unless we all work together to bring the automated solutions to the independent production floor. Only through our strength in numbers can we define what machinery is needed and what we would pay for such an automated solution, and partner with one of AICC’s greatest assets (our Associate members) to develop those solutions for our membership. This is not an easy task, but it is a necessary task for the survival of the independent. If, as an Association, we don’t address the workforce issue with a variety of solutions for our members, survival will be a difficult task except for our strongest independent members. But I need your help to do this. We need to define what automation is needed on our plant floors and work together to define the specs of the machinery, what you would pay for this machinery, and how many machines you would buy. If our Associate members can bring that information to their management, I know that they can get the support to move forward. If you have any ideas about what part of your production floor needs to be focused on for automated solutions, please email your ideas to helpwanted@aiccbox.org. We are also open to any other ideas you might have to help with our worker shortage. Only with our strength in numbers will we be able to overcome this challenge.
Al Hoodwin CEO, Michigan City Paper Box Co. Chairman, AICC
BOXSCORE www.aiccbox.org
3
Scoring Boxes
Don’t Overlook Export Business Potential BY DICK STORAT
G
oods produced for shipment abroad offer large markets for corrugated packaging to protect items on their often rough journeys to their distant destinations. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, American-made, -harvested, or -mined products destined for export totaled $1.5 trillion last year. Of course, many of those are commodities that do not offer much opportunity for corrugated packaging. Minerals, metals, livestock, grains, many crops, energy products, lumber, cement, nonmetallic minerals, and bulk chemicals are among the many products that have little or no corrugated packaging associated with them. To get a better estimate of the amount of exported goods that do offer opportunities for corrugated packaging, we sorted through the various categories of export goods and eliminated about $1 trillion in commodities including cattle, wheat, soybeans, steel, cement, and other goods
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BOXSCORE July/August 2018
not needing corrugated packaging. That sort excluded 64 percent of last year’s exported goods. This article provides insight into the size and growth rates of the remaining $526 billion in packageable 2017 exports, so independent corrugated boxmakers can assess the packaging opportunities in these market segments. Since non durable goods lasting less than three years consume about 75 percent of corrugated packaging produced in the United States, we will look at this category separately from the remaining packageable durable goods exports. Last year, packageable nondurable goods totaled $222 billion, or 42 percent of all packageable exported goods. The topmost chart on Page 5 shows the size of major nondurable export market segments. Fortunately for boxmakers, corrugatedintensive food and beverage products accounted for the largest share of
consumable goods exports last year, at 44 percent, or $96.6 billion. Packageable chemical products include soaps, detergents and cleaners, pharmaceuticals, toiletries, and paints. They totaled $78.8 billion last year, accounting for 35 percent of packageable nondurable goods exports. Exports of selected plastic and rubber products, clothing, packageable paper goods, and printed materials accounted for the remaining 21 percent of last year’s nondurable goods exports, a $46 billion market opportunity for corrugated packaging. Between mid-2014 and the end of 2016, exports shrank as the U.S. dollar strengthened by more than 25 percent. Last year, though, the U.S. dollar weakened by about 10 percent, which provided some opportunity for renewed export growth, combined with more robust growth in the economies of U.S. trading partners.
Scoring Boxes
The chart (bottom right) documents the 3.6 percent growth rate of packageable nondurable goods exports last year. For comparison, there was no growth last year in total U.S. production of consumer nondurable goods. Again, it is welcome news for independent boxmakers that the corrugated-intensive food and beverage sector was the fastest-growing sector last year, posting an advance of 3.9 percent. While the packageable chemicals market saw no change overall last year, there are categories within it that grew faster. For example, exports of soaps grew by 6.2 percent last year, and paint exports advanced by 4 percent. Exports of packageable durable goods totaled $302 billion in 2017, accounting for 58 percent of packageable goods exports. The top chart on Page 6 shows how these exports were divided between major market segments. The electrical appliances and equipment category includes major household appliances such as washers, dryers, and other white goods. Also included are small electrical appliances, lighting fixtures and bulbs, batteries, and industrial controls. The category amounted to $59 billion last year, or 19 percent of long-lasting packageable goods shipments abroad. Also accounting for 19 percent of packageable durable goods exports, electronic component exports added up to $58 billion. Semiconductors and printed circuit boards are the major goods in this category. Electronic instruments include items such as watches, clocks, industrial process controls, prerecorded CDs, and software on CDs or tapes. They totaled $49 billion, or 16 percent of last year’s packageable durable goods exports.
2017 Exports of Packageable Nondurable Goods ($ Billion)
Food & Beverage
$96.6
Chemical Products Plastic & Rubber Products Textiles & Apparel Paper & Printed Matter $0
$78.8 $18.7 $16.7 $10.6 $20.0
$40.0
$60.0
$80.0
$100.0
$120.0
SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, RSA, INC.
Exports of Packageable Durable Goods (Percent Change 2016–2017)
Food & Beverage
3.9%
Packageable Nondurables
3.6%
Plastic & Rubber Products
3.1%
Paper & Printed Matter Textiles & Apparel Chemical Producs
2.9% 0.3% -0.1%
-0.5% 0% 0.5% 1.0% 1.5% 2.0% 2.5% 3.0% 3.5% 4.0% 4.5% SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, RSA, INC.
BOXSCORE www.aiccbox.org
5
Scoring Boxes
2017 Exports of Packageable Durable Goods ($ Billion)
Electrical Appliances & Equipment
$59 $58
Electronic Components Electronic Instruments
$49
Computer Equipment
$46
Communications Equipment
$40
Fabricated Metal Products
$35 $10
Audio & Video Equipment Furniture & Fixtures $0
$5 $10
$20
$30
$40
$50
$60
$70
SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, RSA, INC.
2017 Exports of Packageable Durable Goods ($ Billion)
7.2%
Electronic Components
6.5%
Audio & Video Equipment 4.3%
Electrical Appliances & Equipment
3.5%
Fabricated Metal Products
3.2%
Packageable Durables
2.5%
Computer Equipment
2.2%
Electronic Instruments
1.5%
Furniture & Fixtures -2.6%
Communications Equipment
-4.0%
-2.0%
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, RSA, INC.
Computer equipment exports added up to $46 billion last year, or 16 percent of these long-lasting packageable exports. Communications equipment exports include cellphones, telephones, and broadcasting equipment. That category totaled $40 billion last year. While many fabricated metal products do not require corrugated packaging, some do. Those include kitchen utensils, cookware, flatware, hand tools, ammunition, and hardware items such as springs, nuts, bolts, and washers. They also added up to a multibillion-dollar export category last year, accounting for 11.5 percent of all packageable durable goods exports. Except for exports of cellphones and other communications equipment, all sectors of packageable durable goods exports posted growth in 2017. Exports of packageable durable goods increased by 3.2 percent last year, with shipments of semiconductors and other electronic components growing by 7.2 percent. Audio and video equipment also outpaced the average, expanding by 6.5 percent. Exports of appliances and related equipment, the largest durable export sector, grew rapidly as well, posting a 4.3 percent growth rate. What is the bottom line for independent corrugated and boxboard converters? Simply this: Exports of packageable goods offer a large and growing market opportunity whose products need corrugated packaging. Dick Storat is president of Richard Storat & Associates. He can be reached at 610-282-6033 or storatre@aol.com.
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BOXSCORE July/August 2018
Upcoming AICC Events
A well trained workforce increases your productivity. SEPTEMBER
NOVEMBER
AICC Northeast Summit 9/5/2018 » 9/6/2018 Atlantic City, New Jersey
Production Leadership Seminar: Next Level Supervision of People & Process 11/6/2018 » 11/7/2018 Location TBA
Rigid Box Operator Training Seminar 9/18/2018 » 9/21/2018 Location: East Providence, Rhode Island AICC/TAPPI 2018 Corrugated Week 9/24/2018 » 9/27/2018 Indianapolis, Indiana
OCTOBER AICC West Coast Annual Golf Tournament + Business Meeting 10/9/2018 » 10/10/2018 Irvine, California Digital Printing on Corrugated Seminar 10/10/2018 » 10/11/2018 Location TBA Introduction - Rotary Die Cutter Seminar 10/17/2018 » 10/18/2018 Fox Valley Technical College Appleton, Wisconsin Sales Strategies for Today's Market Seminar 10/24/2018 » 10/25/2018 Chicago, Illinois Corrugated Fundamentals Seminar 10/24/2018 » 10/25/2018 Location TBA
Learn more at www.aiccbox.org/calendar When you invest and engage, AICC will deliver success.
Productive Machine Measurement Seminar 11/8/2018 » 11/9/2018 Location TBA School for Financial Manager’s Seminar 11/13/2018 » 11/14/2018 Location TBA
Legislative Report
Print & Packaging Legislative Summit Draws 100-plus to DC
Attendees of the 2018 Print & Packaging Legislative Summit gather in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., before heading out on their congressional visits.
M
ore than 100 members of the printing, corrugated, and paperboard packaging industries met June 19–20 in Washington, D.C., for the 2018 Print & Packaging Legislative Summit. The purpose of the two-day event was to help advance a legislative agenda that focused on workforce development issues, ongoing tax reform, health care, and other challenges facing small and medium-sized printing and converting businesses. Six principal industry associations collaborated on this year’s Summit: AICC, the Independent
8
BOXSCORE July/August 2018
Packaging Association; the Association for Print Technologies (APT); the Fibre Box Association (FBA); Idealliance; Printing Industries of America (PIA); and the Specialty Graphics Imaging Association (SGIA). The Summit began on Tuesday, June 19, with policy briefings from subject-matter experts on international trade, tariffs, recycling and environmental regulations, continuing tax reform, and workforce issues. AICC President Steve Young welcomed attendees, telling them, “This is an ecumenical event that brings together
Photos courtesy of AICC.
businesses that have the common purpose of putting ink on paper, folding it, die cutting it, gluing it, and then shipping it to an end-use customer to sell a product, protect the product, communicate an idea, or tell a story. While our businesses may be slightly different, we all share a common desire in having a more favorable tax code, a relaxed regulatory environment, and a labor policy that encourages and builds up our workforces.” The briefings were followed by a reception in the Rayburn House Office Building honoring members of the
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Legislative Report
Dennis Colley of the Fibre Box Association addresses attendees during the Congressional Reception in the Rayburn House Office Building.
Heads of the 2018 Print & Packaging Legislative Summit sponsoring organizations gather in Washington, from left: Dan Muenzer, Tag & Label Manufacturers Institute; Ford Bowers, Specialty Graphics Imaging Association; Steve Young, AICC; Michael Makin, Printing Industries of America; Thayer Long, Association for Print Technology; Dan Steinhart, Idealliance; and Dennis Colley, Fibre Box Association.
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BOXSCORE July/August 2018
115th Congress and presenting several Friend of Print & Packaging and the RICOH Innovation in Government Communications awards. Awards were presented to Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and Gerald Connolly of Virginia. A dinner at the Capitol Hill Club featured keynote speaker Charlie Cook, editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report, who presented a prognostication of the midterm elections being held later this year. On Wednesday, June 20, attendees enjoyed breakfast in the Russell Senate Office Building with four U.S. Senators: Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; John Boozman, R-Ark.; Angus King, I-Maine; and Tom Carper, D-Del. Each senator received a Friend of Print and Packaging award. Commenting on the importance of the group’s visits on Capitol Hill that day and the power of the legislative branch over the private sector, Sen. Boozman reminded members, “You can be legislated out of business overnight.” Sen. Heitkamp, for her part, thanked attendees for the award and added that it was, “as typical on Capitol Hill, an award for trying, not for getting results.” She urged members to “help me get results through your visits to your senators and representatives today.” The rest of the day was filled with visiting members of Congress to present and discuss the issues of concern for the print and packaging industries. Overall, more than 300 individual visits were arranged for Summit attendees by Prime Advocacy, a Capitol Hill political consulting firm. All attendees at the Summit received a briefing packet, complete with leave- behinds detailing the industry’s position on various economic and business
Legislative Report
policies. The Fibre Box Association (FBA) once more provided their “corrugated conversation cards,” a bound deck of fact cards about the superior environmental and performance attributes of corrugated packaging products. “We were once again proud to be able to offer these conversation cards to all attendees at the 2018 Summit,” says Dennis Colley, president and CEO of FBA. “We believe these unique cards are remembered and referred to often by congressional aides when they are researching packaging-related subjects.” At a midday break, attendees had the opportunity to attend several tax seminars sponsored by Falco Sult,
AICC and Summit attendees gather outside the office of Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., from left: Al Hoodwin, Michigan City Paper Box; Jim Fetherston, Worzalla; Matt Baehr, Book Manufacturers Institute; John Sofinowski, BW Papersystems; and Len Prazych, Board Converting News.
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11
Legislative Report
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., gives remarks at the Senate breakfast on Wednesday, June 20. She received a 2018 Friend of Print & Packaging award for her support of the industry.
an independent accounting and tax firm headquartered in Redmond, Wash. Eric Elgin of Oklahoma Interpak, chairman of AICC’s Government Affairs Committee, says this and other summits are worth the investment of time. “This is a great educational experience for any member. It’s important that we business owners become engaged in the legislative process.” Al Hoodwin, CEO of Michigan City Paper Box and chairman of AICC, agreed,
12
BOXSCORE July/August 2018
John Sofinowski (left), BW Papersystems, and Al Hoodwin, Michigan City Paper Box, pause outside the office of Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., before their appointment.
saying, “We don’t realize the extent and complexity of policy discussions going on in Washington until we visit here and experience this.” The evening brought all attendees back together with a happy hour and a Print & Packaging Night Out at Nationals Park to watch the Washington Nationals vs. the Baltimore Orioles in the annual “Battle of the Beltway.” Top sponsors for the program included the Tag & Label Manufacturers
Institute (TLMI), RICOH, Packsize, the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM), and Falco Sult. Additional sponsors were Resolute Forest Products, Catalyst Paper, the Book Manufacturers Institute (BMI), Twin Rivers Paper, Poteet Printing Systems, and Quad Graphics. For more information about the 2018 Print & Packaging Legislative Summit, contact Cindy Huber at 703-535-1384 or chuber@aiccbox.org.
Thank you Education Investors These companies are making a significant contribution to the online education available to all AICC members.
For more information, contact Mike D’Angelo, Vice President, 703.535.1386 or mdangelo@aiccbox.org.
New Members
Welcome, New Members! CORRUGATED BOX EQUIPMENT ANGIE VILLA Director 17901 Von Karman Ave. Irvine, CA 92614 Phone: 949-242-9516 www.corrugatedboxequipment.com angievilla@corrugatedboxequipment.com EMPAQUES CARMA S.A. DE C.V. CARLOS ALBERTO AGUIRRE LEAL Gerente General Hacienda Santa Maria #100-A Santa Catarina, NLE 66367 Mexico Phone: +52 81-8392-6430 www.empaquescarma.com carlos_aguirre@empaquescarma.com RINCO S.A. DE C.V. MARTIN BUIS GARCIA Director General Convento del Rosario #18 Tlalnepantla, MEX 54050 Mexico Phone: +52 55-5383-9510 www.rinco.mx martin.buis@rinco.mx CORRUGATED CONCEPTS & PACKAGING, INC. P.J. HOFFMAN Chief Operating Officer 5050 Campbell Rd. Houston, TX 77041-7604 Phone: 713-462-5600 Fax: 713-462-6266 www.corrcon.com pj@corrcon.com
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BOXSCORE July/August 2018
U.S. CORRUGATED, INC. PAUL H. KING Vice President 95 W. Beau St. Suite 430 Washington, PA 15301 Phone: 724-345-2062 www.uscorr.com paul.king@uscorr.com
ABOX PACKAGING PYLAR PINKSTON Director of Sales and Marketing 12950 FM 1641 Forney, TX 75126 Phone: 972-932-9800 Fax: 972-932-4612 www.aboxpackaging.com pylar@aboxpackaging.com
OK-GO PACKAGING BRIAN EICHLER President 201 Inglewood Drive El Paso, TX 79227 Phone: 915-440-2500 www.okgopackaging.com brian@okgopackaging.com
HIGHCON SYSTEMS, LTD. MICHELLE HAREL Marketing Operations, Americas P.O. Box 13200 Yavne, Central District 8122503 Israel Phone: +972 8-910-1705 Fax: +972 8-910-1706 www.highcon.net michelle.harel@highcon.net
COMERCIALIZADORA OVP S.A. DE C.V. OSCAR RODRIGO VILLAVICENCIO DEL RIO Director Operativo SM 1 MZ 47 EDIF 2 C Ciudad de México, MEX 09220 Mexico osrovilladelrio@live.com.mx PAPELES Y CONVERSIONES DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V. CESAR ANAYA GARZA Director de Operaciones Cerro de la Silla No. 101 Col. División del Norte Guadalupe, NLE 67190 Mexico Phone: +52 818-288-0600 www.pcm.com.mx cesar@pcm.com.mx
GRUPO TENSA, S.A. DE C.V. GREGORIO SERGIO VEGA CASTILLO Director General Av. Rio de los Remedios #5 Tiainepantla de Baz, MEX 054180 Mexico Phone: +52 56-9902-80 www.grupotensa.com.mx sergiovg@grupotensa.com.mx MICROCART, S.A. DE C.V. ISREAL ISAAC GARCIA ZAMARRIPA Director General Av. Carpinteros Norte N 126 Jesús María, AGU 20900 Mexico Phone: +52 449-914-1435 igarcia@microcart.com.mx
New Members
INDUSTRIAS DE CARTON ALMACAR, S.A. DE C.V. LUIS CARLOS CERVANTES RAMIREZ Gerencia de Ventas Carr. León-San Francisco Km 6.150, Col. Campo Verde León, GTO 37434 Mexico Phone: +52 47-7778-1136 www.almacarcorrugados.com luiscarlos@cisssa.com.mx
3H EMPAQUE Y CARTON S. DE R.L. DE C.V. SERGIO PENAFIEL SOTO Director General Carr. a Tlacote No. 414 Col. Residencial Italia Querétaro, QRO 76131 Mexico Phone: +52 442-256-0033 www.3h.com.mx sergio.penafiel@3h.com.mx
CARTONES MICROCORRUGADOS S.A. DE C.V. LUIS GERARDO GONZALEZ Director Comercial Encuartadores No. 304 Col. Ciudad Industrial (Abastos) León, GTO 37490 Mexico Phone: 47-7763-5070 www.cartomicro.com.mx lgonzalez@cartomicro.com.mx
J&J CAJAS Y EMPAQUES S.A. DE C.V. JORGE LUIS CHAPA RODRIGUEZ Director General Serafin Peña #528 Col. Ampliación Lázaro Cárdenas General Escobedo, NLE 66058 Mexico www.jjcorporativo.com jorgechapa@jjcorporativo.com
INSTAPACK S.A. DE C.V. FEDERICO CERVANTES TREVINO Director Carretera Qro San Luis Potosí No. 24000 Querétaro, QRO 76223 Mexico Phone: +52 442-225-6100 www.instapack.com.mx frederico.cervantes@instapack.com.mx
MERCA CARTON S.A. DE C.V. ARMANDO PADILLA CORDERO Director General Blvd. Aeropuerto 1255 Int. 15 Leon, GTO 37670 Mexico Phone: +52 477-710-6056 www.mexipack.com.mx apadilla@mexipack.com.mx
ARTIGRAF S.A. DE C.V. RAYMUNDO ROMERO PALOMO Director Ejecutivo Carretera a García Km 1.2 Santa Catarina, NLE 66350 Mexico Phone: +52 81-8122-7300 www.artigraf.com.mx jrromero@papelesultra.com.mx
RENGO PACKAGING INC. MANU BERMUDES Senior Vice President 91-170 Malakole St. Kapolei, HI 96707 Phone: 808-484-5818 Fax: 808-484-5821 www.rengopackaging.com manu.bermudes@rengopackaging.com
SOLUCIONES DE EMPAQUES S. DE R.L. DE C.V. JORGE ENRIQUE ORTEGA HUERTA Director General Ave. de los Cometas No. 21 Hermosillo, SON 63299 Mexico Phone: +52 662-257-1948 www.solemsa.com.mx jortega@solemsa.com.mx
VESSEL SOLUTIONS, S.A. DE C.V. SERGIO RAUL OROZCO GAMA Director General Blvd. Acabadores #310 COL, Ciudad Industrial León, GTO 37490 Mexico Phone: +52 47-7763-6502 www.vessel.mx ceo@vessel.mx
LINFER IMPRESORES S.A. DE C.V. RUPERTO FERNANDEZ LINARES Gerente General F. Castillo Puerto No. 1003 Querétaro, QRO 76120 Mexico Phone: +52 442-217-0783 www.linferimpresores.com rupertof@linferimpresores.com
CARTOGREEN S.A. DE C.V. NORMA LETICIA FLORES BERRIOS Directora General Calle Benito Juárez No. 36 Chalco, MEX 56600 Mexico www.cartogreen.com corruga2_98@yahoo.com.mx
BOXSCORE www.aiccbox.org
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Members Meeting
Raising the Standard : Best Practices in Flexographic Printing
Photos courtesy of AICC.
BY TARYN PYLE
Attendees produce a perfect print with tools and practices taught in the Best Practices in Flexographic Printing course.
I
n May, AICC held its Best Practices in Flexographic Printing seminar. So, you might be wondering what happens when 25 men and women gather in a classroom and on a machine to learn about flexographic printing. This is AICC’s third year offering this customized class for members. The course, taught at Clemson University’s Printcon facility, gives attendees the opportunity to learn in the classroom and on the machine. This course breaks down into special class sessions, with six to eight people giving each group their own time on the machine, and time to create procedures
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BOXSCORE July/August 2018
and processes that they can take back and implement immediately when they return to their respective plants. This course helps production personnel develop skills that raise the standards of flexographic printing. With lessons on pressmanship, inks, anilox rolls, print plates, cutting dies, color management, machine adjustment, press setup, fingerprinting, and print evaluation, it’s clear that attendees learn a great deal during this two-day course. Always impressive is the level of dedication and interest this group brings, class after class. And while the interest may
vary with each person coming with their own expectations of what they want to learn, it always comes down to one thing: They want to find ways to create the best print job possible for their company. Each class brings attendees from all levels on the production floor, from press operators to production managers, and not one person ever leaves without noting how valuable this course is to their company. Kern Cox, lecturer at Clemson, gives them the tools, and Scott Ellis of Working Well helps them put what they have learned into standard operating procedures (SOPs) that they can then
Set Your Company Up for Success AICC membership offers: Family, Friends, & an ever expanding network. Family friendly locations & multiple networking events at Meetings and Summits.
Access to education for all departments. Webinars from the comfort of your own desk, seminars across the country , and free online education!
Expert Advice. Access to technical advisors for corrugated, folding carton, and safety & risk management.
Renew your company’s AICC Membership today. When you invest & engage, AICC will deliver success. Questions? Contact us Virginia Humphrey at vhumphrey@aiccbox.org or 703.535.1383.
Photos courtesy of AICC.
Members Meeting
Working in small groups, attendees test their new skills on machines and learn the best way to run a press.
apply when they get back, and can use to educate their teammates on what was learned. By understanding all of the components of printing, they are able to treat print jobs with a lighter hand, more science, and less guesswork. It will also come as no surprise that, often, developing targets, measuring, and adjusting all create almost a different language that wakes attendees up and shows them the why and how behind the process. They get on the machine to practice these new processes, test the changes, and learn the right way to run a press. Then they create an SOP that will work on their machines back home. Flexographic Printing: Raising the Standard will be offered again January 23–24, 2019. To learn more about how to get involved in AICC educational offerings, visit www.aiccbox.org/calendar.
Photos courtesy of AICC.
Taryn Pyle is director of education and leadership development at AICC. She can be reached at 703-836-2422 or tpyle@aiccbox.org.
Kern Cox instructs attendees on proper flexo setup.
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BOXSCORE July/August 2018
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Ask Ralph
Substrates BY RALPH YOUNG
O
ur paper-based markets are indeed converging; this includes rigid box, folding carton, and corrugated. At the 2018 Spring Meeting in Phoenix, the Association held a three-hour panel discussion moderated by your own Tom Weber and me, with five well-known and experienced companies in the area of small-flute corrugated and its application in the rigid and folding carton markets. Special thanks to Darin Jones of Pacific Southwest Container; Michael Drummond of Packrite; Tony Reilly of Schwarz Group; Dave Moreno of Greif; and Sharlan Kozak of CEL Chemical for their participation. Looking back, via document search on my computer, it appears that there have been at least eight articles or webinars on “substrates” during the last 12 years. We are often confused by this term, which becomes a generic term that applies to paperboard, solid beached sulfite, coated recycled board, uncoated recycled board, solid unbleached sulfite, kraft linerboard, recycled linerboard, coated white-tops, and a host of others. Cooperative research and articles for the past 20 years have focused on structural comparisons of the different grades and print image reproduction differences on the surface of the different materials. What we do have in common with the structural aspects of the different substrates remains the same in that we are not typically building to containment issues, but to compression elements best described as stiffness or bending resistance. These are measured with TAPPI-approved testing protocols, except for one specific test that came from the beverage carrier market, and that is corner crush and block compression. (On a side
note, if you are interested in the loss of box performance from score cracking, you now have access to a methodology that can measure that concern. We are developing a white paper on the entire issue of score cracking, and it is scheduled to be published soon.) In regard to printing, be very aware that every substrate is uniquely made and has its own DNA profile. Even those within the same category will not perform the same. I very much enjoy working with one specific litho label printer who, over the years, has been very open with sharing his technical expertise and always answering my questions. He has noted that, in his process and in meeting his customers’ expectations, he is indifferent to four of the five C1S products that are on the market, but he cannot get that fifth substrate to perform. So, four out of five are viable suppliers, and the fifth one is not able to qualify. Digital presents an entirely new challenge. All that we have known about substrates, anilox rolls, inks, plates, and printing presses goes away with this technology. And the technology is not all the same. While digital can overcome some issues, it is still subject to all the corrugated vagaries of scoring,
slitting, dust, warp, cracking, and washboarding. The February 2018 seminar hosted at SUN Automation discussed these issues and many more. Valmet, one of the last remaining manufacturers of paper-making equipment, has announced it has taken paper-making across the web moisture profiling technology and developed a scanner for corrugators. I have not personally experienced one, but it should be very promising, even though we have seen earlier uses of similar technology in corrugated production. So, please let me encourage you, as you attempt to move up the image reproduction scale, to reduce variation, remove costs, improve productivity, and create a better brand. Connect with Tom and me regarding your projects. We are here to save you heartache and pain. R alph Young is the principal of Alternative Paper Solutions and is AICC’s technical advisor. Contact Ralph directly about technical issues that impact our industry at askralph@aiccbox.org.
BOXSCORE www.aiccbox.org
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Selling Today
Untapped Revenue Potential of House and Dormant Accounts BY TODD M. ZIELINSKI AND LISA BENSON
P
ackaging is a competitive industry, and manufacturers allocate a large chunk of resources toward trying to capture the next new account. However, many fail to see the potential revenue that is sitting in their current database of house and dormant accounts. Various research shows that acquiring new customers can cost from five to seven times more than retaining current customers, yet the majority of companies are putting most of their resources into new business acquisition as opposed to customer retention. Creating sustainable processes and activities around dormant and low-spend, high-potential house accounts will allow you to uncover untapped revenue.
Waking Dormant Accounts Dormant accounts—those customers who have bought from you in the past but have been silent for several years— are often thought of as not having much value. There are many reasons why a customer might have gone dark on you: Your contact may no longer be with the company; its product line may have changed; or maybe the customer isn’t aware of your full line of products and services. So, don’t make the mistake of assuming, based solely on the fact that an account has become dormant, that a customer no longer needs your products and services. Reactivating dormant accounts is one of the quickest ways to increase your revenue stream. Evaluating Low-Spend House Accounts When you acquire a new account, you should have some understanding of what the company’s annual spending
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is. It is a good idea to go back and look at some of your low-spend accounts for which there was an expectation of higher sales. A low-spending customer might be spending more with your competitor. If a company spends $250,000 annually in corrugated but you are only seeing $10,000 in sales, there is a big opportunity to increase sales by learning more about its needs. If the customer is dual-sourced, this is an opportunity to move into the primary supplier slot. However, to move into the primary supplier position, it is important to build the relationship by spending face time with the customer. This gives you an opportunity to better understand that customer’s business and needs, and allows you to find areas where there might be a gap for which you can offer assistance. Creating a Structured Approach Once you have a list of dormant and low-spend, high-potential house accounts, you need to create a structured approach to reigniting or expanding your relationship with the accounts. The best way to approach it is with an old-fashioned phone call. Because the first calls will be fact-finding, it might be better to have an entry-level customer service representative make those calls instead of your sales team. These customers have a relationship with you, so the call won’t be as challenging as making a cold call. To make it easier, create a natural-sounding script for the customer service rep and practice a few times. For dormant accounts, call to verify that your contact information is correct and update your database. Once you have
your contacts—dormant and house— there are three items you will want to address on the call: about their relationship with your 1 Ask company. Have they or did they experience any issues that you can address? Document all feedback you receive. Any issues that are disclosed should be elevated immediately for corrective action. We have seen customers saved by addressing an issue that the company had not been aware of. Ask whether they have any projects 2 coming up for which you can be of service. If the company has used only one product or service but you have others, make sure it is aware of what you can offer. Consider multiple locations as well—you might need to ask for additional contacts depending on how its purchasing structure is set up. If it does have an upcoming project, this information should be elevated to a salesperson for immediate follow-up. It is ideal if the customer service rep can set up a meeting between the customer and the salesperson during the call. their total annual spending 3 is,Askandwhatdocument the response. If there is no additional revenue potential, you can put this company aside. However, if the spending exceeds your current sales, this information should be elevated to the salesperson. The process needs to be done consistently, and those customers without an immediate need should be in a nurturing
Selling Today
program to keep your company’s name and products or services in front of them as they move through the sales funnel. A nurturing program consists of regularly scheduled emails that deliver relevant and useful content, build awareness of your products and services, and work to build trust. The emails may include an incentive. People love incentives, so consider offering an enticement to increase the amount of business they are currently doing with you, or to bring their business back to your company. Also, if a customer tells you it doesn’t currently have a project but might in the future, find out when the best time to follow up will be, and then be sure to actually follow up at that
time. In the meantime, the customer will be getting regular nurture emails from you. Tracking and measuring the results of this process are important steps as a means of gauging your success, keeping the process on track, and providing the data you need to find areas for improvement and making corrections. This can be done in your customer relationship management or sales pipeline management tool. Equally important are monthly reviews with the customer service and sales team regarding activity, goals, and results. Re-engaging dormant customers and tapping into the additional needs of house
accounts can deliver significant revenue gains. However, it is essential that the process is viewed as an ongoing strategic tool and not a one-time activity. Todd M. Zielinski is managing director and CEO at Athena SWC LLC. He can be reached at 716-250-5547 or tzielinski@athenaswc.com. Lisa Benson is senior marketing content consultant at Athena SWC LLC. She can be reached at lbenson@athenaswc.com.
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BOXSCORE July/August 2018
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Tackling Trends
Flexo Printing in a Digital World BY JOHN CLARK
T
o paraphrase Mark Twain: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Proven solutions are not replaced with a wave of the hand, nor do they go quietly into the night. The advent of digital printing might dominate all the headlines today, much as a Super Bowl quarterback receives the bulk of the glory that comes with victory. The reality, though, can be quite different. While the quarterback gets the lion’s share of the credit for victory, the football game is truly won in the trenches, where steady, reliable linemen go about their business with little notoriety, providing the foundation of the team’s success. Much like a football team, the complement of a plant’s machinery has several hierarchies of performance and expectation. At the top of the new pyramid are the latest and greatest digital presses. For specific solutions where corrugated is the packaging material of choice, the effects can be startling. Microbreweries, for example, are a natural fit for digital printing solutions. The old maxim in the beer industry was to gain a customer at the very first opportunity, and they would be a customer for life. Now, craft brewers have carved out a large niche of the market, not through history, familiarity, or proximity, but through packaging. The colorful and creative digital package branding creates a strong billboard that is recognizable and memorable, one that can be augmented and refined with no additional tooling or expense. Normal periods of specific packaging for seasonal or specific events can now be tailored to attract specific ethnic, geographic, or demographic groups.
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Below the mountaintop the new digital machines occupy, all the machines you currently operate still exist, and these machines will continue to provide the vast bulk of the volume and the lion’s share of revenue for your business. Complicating the net value calculation of a digitally printed carton is the extended time frame for converting a digital container. Most digital containers will have to be die cut and often joined to create the finished product. What is now a one- or two-step process could require two or three steps to complete. Digital can surely be the icing; it is hard to see it becoming the cake. For an economy that is based now on shipping rather than shopping, one has to question the breadth of the impact of this advance in technology. The brown box is not going away. If you are like the typical American consumer, you are working more, and time is precious. Often, the only time you have to shop is when the stores are already closed. But Amazon and companies like it never close and never sleep. The vast majority of what Amazon ships goes out in an envelope or a corrugated box. I bet you have more than a few in your house right now. I also bet that box is a brown corrugated one devoid of any printing beyond the Amazon logo, a box code, and
a BMC stamp—not a digital influence anywhere to be seen. It is hard to see digital converting play out for the likes of Amazon, but that does not mean there are no opportunities for existing companies like Birchbox, or even for companies yet to be formed. Digital technologies have changed all our lives. Readers of a certain age remember being forced to hold the TV antenna in a certain position so the family could see the show on the small screen. Others might remember being judicious when taking photos, as there were only 36 shots available on the roll of film. There are likely older folks who remember when phones had dials that had to be spun to place a call. Digital technologies have improved these and many other aspects of life, and digital printing can and will do the same. But it is not a replacement like a cellphone or a digital camera—it is more of an augmentation, where the choice of product, demographics, and artwork will help sway the consumer’s choice. John Clark is director of analytics at Amtech Software. He can be reached at jclark@ amtechsoftware.com.
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Lean Learnings
Setup Reduction BY MIKE NUNN
W
ho would have thought that you could change four tires and fill a tank of gas in less than three seconds? Well, if you’re a member of a Formula 1 pit crew (or watch the sport, I suppose), then this is not a surprise at all. Setup reduction is a powerful tool to improve your business. There are many reasons and benefits for completing a setup reduction kaizen. Setup reductions are a low-cost method to find hidden capacity in your operation. Reducing setup times will allow you to reduce your run quantities, especially with inventory orders, so that your scheduling and customer service versatility can be enhanced. From a cultural point of view, team members will feel more engaged as they are included in the improvement process. The first time I ran a setup reduction kaizen on a flexo, we ended up taking 70 percent of the time out of the process. What business wouldn’t want that kind of improvement?
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The first thing to understand with setup reductions is that there are four main components in the anatomy of a setup: and preparing. Pulling 1 Gathering together all the tooling, ink, board, production tickets, and so on. Mounting and dismounting. Print plate 2 and cutting dies are taken off and put on the machine. Aligning and tuning. Ink viscosity 3 checks, print plate alignment to centerlines or zero marks, and steel segment dies are aligned. Trial runs and adjustments. Print 4 cut placement is fine-tuned, folds and slots are adjusted, and pressures are corrected. When I think of an ideal setup process, I picture a SWARM of production team members all united in their approach to setup. SWARM represents:
• Sudden. Don’t wait, attack it, have the pit stop mentality. • Work. Work like a team! The setup is not the time to sit back. Help each other and balance the workload. • Aligned. Know and work the plan. The various types of setup should each have a play, and there should be a playbook for each machine. • Rapid. Move from one task to the next without delay. • Measured. If it’s not measured, it can’t be improved. Ensure all crews are measuring setup from the last good box of the completed order to the first good box of the next order. Set improvement goals. The two most critical concepts to grasp before taking on a setup reduction are that of internal and external steps. Internal steps or tasks are defined as things that can be done only while the machine is down or idle. External steps or tasks can be done while the machine is running—either during the previous
Lean Learnings
order or once the next order is up and running. Identifying and separating these two types of activities is key to realizing the improvements. The setup reduction process has four steps: current state. Map the process 1 Define using a value stream mapping exercise. Be sure to identify all steps as either internal or external tasks. Next, you will want to time the steps to determine where the big rocks are to target and prioritize kaizen. Lastly, I’ve always found that mapping the routes that each crew member takes tells a very good story. Asking why (five times, ideally) during all parts of this step will flush out the root causes of the current state. Separate internal and external steps. 2 Move external tasks to outside of the down/idle time. You may need to think outside of the box for this, as this is usually where you start to hear “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
Automation and equipment advancement in recent years have generated significant improvements in setup times. Things like catwalk systems on multicolor machines and interchangeable cutting die sections/cartridges have enabled previously internal tasks to be done externally. Despite these innovations, there are still opportunities to gather the team and run a setup reduction. Minutes and seconds add up. Thinking this through based on an eight-hour shift, five minutes saved per setup can equate to 25 minutes per shift, which
adds up to two hours in a week. Taking this a couple of steps further, those two hours saved each week generate an extra shift over the month, and by the end of the year, you’ve gained a full week of production. Whoa! Mike Nunn is vice president of operations at Ideon Packaging and is Lean Black Belt-certified. He can be reached at 604-524-0524 or miken@ ideonpackaging.com, or followed on Twitter @mikednunn.
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Remove the waste. Now that external 3 and internal steps are separated, it’s time to reduce or eliminate the eight wastes, balance the workload across the entire team, eliminate manual tools, and create the setup “play.” Think of the last box going through the machine like the snap of a football. Fine-tune. Just because you’ve discov4 ered the time savings opportunities in the previous step and put counter measures in place, you’re not done. Look at your new and improved setup, and find more waste.
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BOXSCORE www.aiccbox.org
31
Leadership
#MeToo and the New (and Improved) Normal
Photo courtesy of AICC.
BY SCOTT ELLIS, ED.D.
Leah Ashford, certified professional coach, leads the discussion on male-female relationships in the workplace at AICC's Emerging Leader gathering in April.
T
he popular culture has experienced a drastic change. The mighty have fallen off the casting couch. We’ve been shocked and betrayed by America’s favorite dad. Actors, comedians, clerics, political leaders, and anchormen have been exposed and dismissed for leveraging power for their own pleasure. It is disheartening to say the least. What do these trends have to do with a packaging business? We are certainly not playing by Hollywood rules, but are there lessons to be learned from these flamboyant offenders? AICC’s Emerging Leaders (ELs) sought to answer this question at their April gathering. I was determined to provide a forum for candid dialogue on this subject, one of the most volatile that could be discussed. To accomplish this, I invited Leah Ashford, fellow certified professional
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coach, to spearhead the conversation. Now a full-time coach of professionals in transition, Ashford recently launched her practice after 20 years at E. & J. Gallo Winery. With this gentle and authoritative leader on point, the conversation was augmented by AICC attorney David Goch and me. In the midst of the aforementioned revelation of so many open secrets, Ashford quickly described corporate policy guidelines, and Goch provided a legal perspective and comic relief. Our intention was to discover how all of us, female and male, could safely proceed in co-worker relationships with the rules in flux. One discussion question posed by Ashford had the group sharing openly, and it was evident that a few participants had broadened their perspective.
“Is what was considered acceptable before no longer acceptable behavior?” Ashford asks. “Perhaps it may never have been acceptable; there may have always been those that found the joke or the behavior unacceptable, and now they feel empowered to speak up.” The crux of the discussion focused on what can be done by the people who set policy, as well as by those who just work in the ranks at their company. I’ll group my key takeaways into four categories: 1) be mindful of power; 2) be cautious and create opportunity; 3) advocate with respect; and 4) trust your intuition. Be mindful of power. The impact that rank, influence on advancement, and authority over employment status have on relationships is subtle and pronounced. There are no conversations that are not affected by the relative power of the
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What are your company’s pain points? Production • Machine Efficiency • Controlling Color • Maintenance & Troubleshooting • Maximizing Old Equipment Customer Service • Managing & Exceeding Customer Expectations • Negotiating • Building & Maintaining Relationships • Managing Difficult Accounts Design • Differences between Structural & Graphic Design • Printing on Different Substrates • Understanding Color Theory • Creating Retail Ready Packaging Leadership • Appropriate Costing of Materials & Staffing • Measuring Production • Identifying Waste in Time, Dollars & Effort Sales • • • •
Closing Deals Building & Maintaining Relationships Selling Digital Print Figuring Out Customers' Business Drivers
AICC listens to your needs and pain points and creates training just for your company. For more information contact Taryn Pyle at tpyle@aiccbox.org or 703.535.1391.
Leadership
conversant. Regardless of gender, the boss must be mindful of the fact that in the workplace, people are motivated to agree, and sometimes even to suppress their own opinions or propriety. To me, being mindful of power means that I will not delude myself or others with the idea that power does not matter. Be cautious and create opportunity. We discussed the unintended outcome that overcautious leaders incur. Vice President Mike Pence has said that it is his personal imperative never to meet with a woman alone in private or in public. The backlash for women in this scenario is that they do not have equal access to Pence for all the appropriate learning, persuading, and decisionmaking that happen one-on-one. It is not my intention to judge Pence in this very public stance, but to point out that if it were the general rule, then women, and the workplace, would be negatively impacted. With the ELs, I offered that I do not conduct business in secluded locations alone with women. My mother would say that this is prudent in that it avoids the evil and the appearance of evil. I do, however, frequently meet with, counsel, receive counsel, mentor, and learn from women. I just take the precaution of doing so in more public spaces. Goch added that he holds the mental construct of conducting business as if his mother were in the room. These ideas reinforced that ELs should be cautious, respectful, and continue working for the advancement of all. Advocate. Ashford guided the group through multiple scenarios, but one hypothetical scenario was a conundrum: After a meeting with a potential client, you are
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BOXSCORE July/August 2018
standing in a group with that company’s director, who tells an off-color joke that is demeaning to women. Two women from your company are standing in the group. How do you handle it? Lively dialogue produced responses ranging from “I’d apologize privately to the women” and “I’d confront the potential client,” to “I would let the women speak for themselves as a validation of their equality.” My perspective could be swayed by an experience I had at the birth of women’s liberation in which a young woman was offended by my opening a door for her, at which point she slugged me. In our discussion with the ELs, however, it was argued that anyone who witnesses an inappropriate behavior should speak up with as much finesse as required. We do not always stand up for people because they cannot do it alone, but because they should not have to. Trust your intuition. Some people came away from the EL discussion having decided to stop overriding their intuitive knowledge when faced with uncomfortable pressure, expectations, or behavior. In his book The Gift of Fear, security expert Gavin de Becker said, “Intuition is always right in at least two important ways. It is always in response to something. It always has your best interest at heart.” When you find yourself in a compromised situation, it is likely that you ignored multiple internal alarms to get there. When we find ourselves a target or witness of such behavior, we owe it to ourselves and our co-workers to speak up. To me, the most encouraging outcome of the discussion was the continued conversation at later gatherings during
the week. Rather than seeing it solely as a Hollywood or Washington problem, there was realization that these issues are in play wherever people are involved. I will be contributing one more article on this topic. The ELs returned to their companies with a final scenario presented by Ashford: Imagine you are founding a new company, where you plan to someday offer employment to your daughter and your younger son. What culture would you want them to work in? A place where women have an equal chance of moving up within the company? One where they know they wouldn’t be put down, patted on the head, or be subjected to sexual situations or harassment? How would you want to make that clear in your new organization? The upcoming article will report the feedback I receive from the ELs, as well anything you would like to contribute. I am hoping the perspectives will be numerous and diverse. We can answer these questions and contribute to our current organizations’ new and improved normal. Scott Ellis, Ed.D., provides the brutal facts with a kind and actionable delivery when a leader, a team, or a company needs an objective, data-based assessment of the current state of operations and culture. Training, coaching, and resources develop the ability to eliminate obstacles and sustain more effective and profitable results. Working Well exists to get you unstuck and accelerate effective work. Scott can be reached at 425-985-8508 or scott@workingwell.bz.
Design Space
Right at Home BY JEREMY MONKS
Y
ears ago, I attended college to study history and geography. I never did very well in math, and I certainly did not expect to develop a technical career. I went from taking Canadian and American Relations Pre-1940 to feeding sheets into a rotary die cutter. That gave way to operating the machine, and then being team leader of a production shift. After two years of working with production, I was given the chance to be a junior member of the structural design department. I’ve been designing now for 12 years, and I still enjoy everything about it. Most days start with reading through emails about current projects, new design requisitions, and maybe some production issues mixed in to give a hint of urgency to things. After we have taken care of any production requests, we take a look at the sales requests and make an effort to prioritize. That decision-making process takes into account factors such as customer
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timeline requirements, the type of project, available sample board, special tools or production equipment needed for sample making, and whether we have all the information needed to begin work. Every day is a juggling act with prioritizing and usually remains fluid as we fit things in where needed. It is a constant learning process, sometimes running smoothly and sometimes very much not. We work through it and try to learn what we can about how to improve on a continuous basis. Sales, customer services, scheduling, design, and production all work closely together so that we can learn from one another. The departments spend time crosstraining and getting to know how other areas work not just so that information can make it to design effectively, but also so that design can send information back to the sales and customer service teams and help streamline the production setup routine. We’ve put a lot of emphasis on
streamlining our processes in the last few years, and although it has been successful, we still run into hiccups. Every business like ours is made up of people, and when people work well together, they become a team capable of great things. The people we work with form a network and knowledge base that help support one another and further each other’s understanding of the whole business. As designers, we have the freedom and the chance to visit with customers, tour facilities, liaise with production supervisors and scheduling, and meet with machine operators. Everyone involved benefits if we use these connections and maintain relationships and communication throughout. When we bring in new designers, a big part of the training process is helping them get to know the rest of the production operation. Design is just one part of the whole process, but if a designer combines an understanding of design
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with knowing how orders are entered, how sheets are ordered and scheduled on a corrugator, how machine operators set up a flexo or rotary, and even how someone takes bundles and stacks them on a pallet to be strapped, a designer can help make throughput streamlined and effective. If we combine understanding people’s jobs with understanding what our available machinery is capable of, we can achieve a confidence in our own roles that translates into successful designs. Knowing about limits and machine processes is one side of design; the other side is keeping in mind the values that make our work mean something. There are three goals that help maintain focus
when working on any project: 1) the design has to meet the requirements of our client and, in turn, their clients; 2) the design has to be able to do the work: Can it support the required weight, and can it withstand the stresses that the intended use will bring?; and 3) the design has to be efficient, both in production throughput and material use. This is in part to be cost-effective and competitive in the market, and in part to promote sustainability in any way we can. With these in mind, we can create something that works for our clients and our own company— something that we can be proud to put out into the world.
Working as a cohesive team is such an important part of what the design department does. Being able to take the ideas and requirements of every other department and make something that works for everyone really adds to the sense of accomplishment for the day. As part of the greater picture, the design department is right at home in the middle of everything. Jeremy Monks is a senior structural designer at Boxmaster. He can be reached at jmonks@boxmaster.com.
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MEETINGS, WEBINARS, & SEMINARS Check out our calendar for upcoming meetings, webinars, seminars, and summits throughout North America to receive the best industry training and the chance to network with others in the packaging industry. View AICC’s upcoming courses and events at www.aiccbox.org/calendar.
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UPPING YOUR GAME
Preprinted Corrugated Sheets Help Converters Stay Ahead BY HOLLY KOBELT AND CASSI MALONE
P
ops of bright colors, crystal clear images, and beautifully scattered logos showcasing prominent and well-loved brands—these are the new packaging normal. Underneath the stylish branding, at the heart of it all remains your standard brown box—something that falls just short of a fossil in today’s world. Printed boxes, full-color displays, and specialty packaging are not the
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competitive edge anymore for converters—they are the expectation. With these requirements come added costs, increased labor and machine time, and potential yield loss in the finished product. Converters are constantly searching for ways to appease their clients’ aesthetic eye while increasing efficiency and lowering costs. Enter corrugated preprinted sheets. Preprinted sheets directly from the corrugator add value into converters’ already tight operations through cost reductions, convenience, and delivering a custom product that is ready for end use. Corrugators equipped with inline flexo print capability can offer full-coverage flood-coat print or random repeating logos and pattern designs directly to the sheets during the corrugation process. When speed to market is an issue, preprinted sheets are a good option since they arrive at your dock ready for die cutting and final passes, allowing the operations team to deal with fewer setups and increased throughput. The potential for strength degradation and flute compression is also minimized with the reduction of machine passes, so customers do not have to incorporate additional weight into the sheet to compensate for yield loss. These preprinted sheets can be used for a number of applications, including specialty packaging and point-of-purchase displays, ultimately enhancing the overall
brand image or unboxing experience. Purchasing preprinted sheets directly from the corrugator saves converters money through reduced inventory and waste, and added machine time. Box plants can save on print die and extra ink costs, as this is handled at the corrugator. Waste from leftover ink and excess trim is also eliminated. Quick turnarounds on custom color matching help to ease customer operations even further. With the majority of PMS and GCMI colors available, along with a variety of substrates accessible for printing, converters have a wide array of choices to design their unique product. With guaranteed color consistency, often less than 2 delta-E (dE), both box plants and the end retailer can have peace of mind knowing their branding will remain identical—no matter the application or substrate. Along with the wide variety of color choices, there is an array of coverage options available to suit your customers’ specific design needs. The most popular selection is single-bump print, in which one layer of 100 percent full-coverage ink is applied to the liner. Single-bump full-coverage can be successfully overprinted as well, which can add that extra pop to customer logos. Single-bump with varnish, in which one layer of 100 percent full-coverage ink is applied and one layer of water-based varnish is coated on top, is another popular choice. The varnish helps
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to prevent rub-off and seals in the ink, so there are no concerns about splotching or fading. It can also enhance the brightness of the print. Double-bump print is another option; with it, two layers of 100 percent full-coverage ink are applied to the liner. The result is a brighter and more opaque application. Along with the full-coverage options come both logo-print and reverse-print capabilities. With logo print, a special sleeve with a customer-designed logo is utilized during the corrugation process, and the repeating pattern is printed directly on the liner. Reverse print follows the same concept, except all of the board is printed with the exception of the logo or design, introducing more color into the sheet. Another capability is adding digital print or a litho label to the opposite side
of the preprinted sheet. This can further highlight your customer’s product and brand image while adding only a few extra machine setups. This particular option is very beneficial for specialty packaging designs where both the inside and outside of the box are utilized. However, flexo print adds a lot of color to the design with only a fraction of the cost of digital ink or a litho label. With the rapidly growing e-commerce and subscription box industries, today’s consumer receives more boxes than ever before. Both big-box retailers and e-commerce aficionados are upping their packaging game to enhance the overall brand experience, which means more color, designs, and logos. For converters, the options are almost limitless. Partnering with print-ready corrugators is one way to reduce overall costs, increase
convenience, and deliver a consistent, custom-printed sheet ready for end use. Continuously increasing efficiency is a trend all manufacturers can agree on, and corrugated preprinted sheets are a cost-effective way to do just that. Holly Kobelt is customer service–color specialist at Corrugated Supplies Co. She can be reached at 708-625-3227 or hkobelt@vancraft.com.
Cassi Malone is strategic account manager at Corrugated Supplies Co. She can be reached at 708-625-3244 or cmalone@vancraft.com.
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hanks to AICC education investors, two new free online courses have become available to employees at AICC member companies. With more than 40 free courses available, the catalog offers valuable information for seasoned professionals and those new to the corrugated, folding carton, and rigid box industries.
New courses include: • Optimizing the Flexo Print Process, created with the support of Absolute, JB Machinery, Pamarco, and Printron. • Essential Principles of Water-Based Flexo Ink, created with the support of BCM Inks. This course provides the basics needed for printers and suppliers of water-based inks.
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Also, recently added: • Packaging Production Math: This course is a practical guide to how math skills are used in packaging production. • Standardized Work: This course teaches the creation of Standard Operating Procedures, One-Point Lessons, Decision Trees, checklists, and more. • Setup Reduction: Lean manufacturing techniques are explained in this course for eliminating waste in the changeover time between jobs.
Member Profile
ABOX Packaging BY VIRGINIA HUMPHREY
COMPANY: ABOX Packaging ESTABLISHED: 1975 JOINED AICC: 2018 PHONE: 800-366-0488 WEBSITE: www.aboxpackaging.com MAIN OFFICE: Forney, Texas PRESIDENT AND CEO: Keith Thompson
A
BOX President and CEO Keith Thompson isn’t kidding when he says the company’s culture sets them apart from others. They are a company, Thompson promises, that is committed to not only doing the right things, but to doing them the right way. They’re a company that is creative in its commitment to its employees and active in giving back to its community. They express this in monthly programs, in taking care of their employees, and in philanthropic projects at every level. Pylar Pinkston, director of sales and marketing, explains how some of ABOX’s many programs work. The Texas company has a fish program, inspired by an East Coast fishing
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company that wanted to motivate workers who had less-than-glamorous jobs. It is a program that puts fish boxes around the plant, and when anyone sees someone do something extraordinary or above and beyond normal expectations, they are rewarded with a fish card, which is a way of thanking or recognizing them. “We try to encourage employees to rise to their potential and basically be better than what they think they are,” Pinkston says. “Once a month, we have a drawing from the fish card program, and that employee is awarded with a prize and employee-of-the-month recognition. At the end of the year, all those employees that were employee of the month are thrown into a drawing for employee of the year.”
They also have a RISE program that is different each month. The human resources (HR) department consults with management about what skills or areas need focus, and they work toward improvement in those areas. It might be something like recognizing those who have perfect attendance for a month, or it might be a monthlong training on something like food-safe box handling with weekly tests, study sessions, and a final recognition of those who score high on the exam. “Our HR department gets credit for organizing it and for the facilitation to make it work,” Pinkston says. “Each month is a different focus on something that will impact the company, but impact the people as well. In rewarding the
Member Profile
Texas-Sized Capabilities A family-owned Texas business, ABOX works hard to be on the cutting edge with machinery that lets them meet all of their customers’ needs. Part of achieving this goal was the purchase of an HP Indigo 30000, a digital folding carton press that provides high-margin opportunities for such things as metalized, board, and synthetic media; security applications; and embellishment capabilities. ABOX was the seventh company in North America to buy one, and they did so after a lot of research and a fair amount of traveling. They saw the equipment in action in Georgia at the HP demonstration center, and then they went to Israel and visited plants and their R&D departments. “They were one of the few that made such inroads with that particular technology,” says Pylar Pinkston, director of sales and marketing. “We knew that the digital technology is the revolution for the industry— that is where printing is going.” It arrived in 2016, set up in its own building that had proper climate and humidity control. It is about five minutes from where their new building is that they moved into in 2017. “It has let all of our existing customers and prospects know what the new technology and new capability is able to do for them,” Pinkston says. “We have been able to secure business
that we would not have gotten before because of the capabilities of digital.” What are some of its capabilities? It uses liquid electrophotography (LEP) technology with minute ink particles. The color gamut allows for white, CMYK, or an HP IndiChrome’s six- or seven-color process. All color separations are transferred in a single pass, including on heat-sensitive materials. It is compliant with food packaging printing regulations and meets both FDA and EU regulations for food contact materials, allowing for safe and compliant printing of primary food packaging. It is possible to print up to 60 different jobs per shift with automatic and immediate switching from one job to another. It can reach a speed of up to 4,600 full-color sheets per hour. It has a 29-inch by 20-inch format. Pinkston says the technology also lets them reach out to brands that want
to set themselves apart. One example she gives is that of embedded link technology in which an invisible QR code is put on a box that allows people to scan it and pull up a video or help protect against counterfeiting, which is especially useful in the cosmetics industry. It also, she says, has mosaic and variable data that lets you personalize printing. She gives the example of the “Share a Coke” program that put different names on the Coke bottle labels. It is the mosaic capabilities that allow you to do that. “You can have different names and run it at the same time,” says Pinkston. “The computer does all the variable data and variety of colors. You can do printing where, for holiday specials, each box can have a different look.”
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Member Profile
employees for doing something like that, it helps them.” The rewards each month can vary from prizes to lunches where management serves the winning employees. One program gave the winner a manager’s parking spot for a week, and that manager used the employee’s parking spot. “The culture from top to bottom is that we all may have different positions, but we are all the same, and every one of us is important,” Pinkston says. “We try to make sure that even though this person may have this position, that doesn’t mean you are less important or even more important. Keith himself has been out on the floor and operating machinery if there is a need. We all do that.” ABOX is also committed to philanthropy and practices it at every level, from donating services and money to encouraging employees to donate their time. When they purchased their new building in 2016, it had been a sports complex. Before they refurbished it for their use as a manufacturing plant, they had the basketball floor lifted out and installed in another location for a local youth organization. Their website tells visitors that they are a team and a family that believes in excellence, supporting their community and having some fun. “That is why we support our local hospital, school district, and chamber of commerce, along with just about every kid-based activity that can be found in the area,” Pinkston says. She adds that philanthropy from the top didn’t used to affect the employees as much as they wanted. They might share thank-you notes or have thank-you lunches for the employees, but she says ABOX wanted to encourage them to give as well.
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“There is no greater joy than the satisfaction of giving yourself,” Pinkston says. So, they set up a program in which an employee can choose to volunteer at a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and for every hour that they donate their time or service, ABOX will match that hour, up to eight hours a quarter, in paid time off. “So, they are getting the reward of going and volunteering on their time off, after hours, and on weekends, but they get eight hours’ worth of a reward from ABOX for being able to do that,” Pinkston says. “What we have found is that some employees don’t even turn in their hours because they are so involved in whatever their charity is. It has touched their lives.” In addition to the structured programs, ABOX lets employees know they care about them on a personal level. If they have an issue, they can come to management for help. “We have helped with utility bills, with getting tires for a vehicle, helping an employee whose house burned down,” Pinkston says. “The employees know that we care. If they fall on a hardship and are in need of something, they know we are there for them.” ABOX was founded in 1975, and the current family purchased it in 2004. Since then, Pinkston says, they have grown more than 600 percent and have gone from 40 employees to 125. Until recently, they had operated out of five different buildings, most of them leased. They then had the opportunity to purchase a large sports complex, something that was kept quiet for a while because the seller didn’t want the community to know until the deal was final. It was to be a big move for ABOX, not just because they were consolidating their operations so people would be working in the same building, but there were also
a lot of nice upgrades—including air conditioning, which was something the Texas company didn’t have before—that would benefit the employees. The company planned a special event to unveil the news. They told all employees to meet at one building at 8 a.m. and to dress casually for a day of corporate training. They all piled onto buses with assigned seats so they could get to know people they didn’t usually work with. When they arrived, the building read “sports complex” on the outside, and they all gathered on the basketball court, where tables were set up representing different areas of the company. “You may have the press area at one table and the folder-gluers at another,” says Pinkston. “They threw basketballs to each other. Then we unveiled the new logo and made the announcement that we weren’t doing corporate training, but this was their new home. They all got T-shirts with the new logos. When everyone was on the court, we talked about efficiencies of all being under one roof.” They started moving people in April 2017, and by May, they were all in their new building. They try to own all their equipment and have everything they do be controlled in-house and not jobbed out to others, so they can control client expectations and their own timelines. They make their own production dies and purchase equipment that will keep ABOX on the cutting edge. “Whatever is needed,” Pinkston says, “ABOX can provide that for its customer.” Virginia Humphrey is director of membership and marketing at AICC. She can be reached at 703-535-1383 or vhumphrey@aiccbox.org.
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EMBRACING DISRUPTION Industry players continue to meet customer demand with flexo and litho, even in the face of digital’s steady rise By Lin Grensing-Pophal
F
irst there were live plays, then radio, then film, then television, and today, streaming video, mobile devices, and a wide range of other ways of viewing entertainment. The introduction of each new method didn’t replace the prior options; today consumers can still view live plays as well as enjoy the myriad other forms of entertainment based on their interests and preferences. The world of print production today is a corollary. While new printing options have continually emerged and will continue to do so, those in the industry feel there is likely to still be a place for some of the tried and true print production methods. It’s not an “either-or” environment, but an “and” environment, as digital printing continues to grow in popularity.
What Customers Want
Customer packaging needs and demands run the gamut from plain brown boxes to high-end packaging with multicolored graphics and specialty coatings. One has not given way to another—what customers need is based on their product, their brand, and their pocketbooks, primarily. We need only look to the world’s largest internet company by revenue, Amazon, for an example of a very successful company that continues to do just fine with plain brown packages printed with
Cost, turnaround, and the ability to support product and company brand tend to be the big three drivers in print production decisions. black ink. What’s inside those packages and on the shelves of brick-and-mortar retailers around the country, though, is where consumers are seeing increasingly high-quality, creative, and high-impact packaging solutions—from the boxes that carry the products to the point-ofpurchase (POP) displays designed to attract shoppers, pique attention, and drive purchase decisions. In the packaging industry, flexo and litho are generally still considered to be the dominant options for packaging and POP displays, and they remain go-to sources for customers looking for cost-effectiveness and quality. Digital is emerging and can offer some cost-efficiency, but it’s not yet quite there in terms of the ability to support high-end graphics. Digital also offers quick turnaround, another top customer demand. Machine capabilities also drive selection along the continuum from digital to flexo to litho and back, says John McLeod
Jr., president and CEO of Lone Star Container in Irving, Texas. Lone Star’s strength, says McLeod, is that it can handle everything from flexo through very high-end litho printing. The company has three litho presses and offers seven- and eight-color aqueous coating, UV coating, spot-UV, and other capabilities. But, at the other end of the spectrum, he says, there are still customers looking for very basic brown box packaging printed with one color that reads “this side up.” Over the past decade, says McLeod, the number of companies with four-color flexo capabilities has grown. “A lot of companies would go ahead and take advantage of that third and fourth color with their packaging—we’ve seen a lot of that.” In the last five years, he says, “we’ve seen a few more of those companies make the jump from four-color flexo into five-color-plus, which for us means litho.” That’s the kind of evolution that occurs among
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customers as they get bigger and their needs change. Cost, turnaround, and the ability to support product and company brand tend to be the big three drivers in print production decisions. Vendors have an important role to play in helping customers understand and navigate available options to best meet their needs. Cost, Turnaround Time, and Graphic Quality Are Top Demands
Cost remains a top-of-mind consideration for many customers, says Stacy Buening, executive vice president and general counsel for Philipp Lithographing Co., in Grafton, Wisconsin. Buening: “Over the last decade, customers have become more cost-conscious in their litho purchases.” They are, she
says, “continuously seeking lower-cost alternatives and cost-saving measures while being careful not to compromise the high quality of the litho.” It’s not clear, she says, whether cost-cutting is a factor of the economy or simply a natural progression. It is, though, the reality that printers such as Philipp find themselves in. Flexibility and innovation are key to remaining viable and competitive, she says. “We embrace the challenge to improve our operations, understand and manage our own internal costs, be innovative, and think outside the box so we can grow together with our customers.” Philipp, says Buening, considers itself to be a large-format “insty-print” supplier. “Fast is what we do.” Customers, she says, “have been always looking for quick-turn solutions but, with the rise of digital, the
industry is even more concerned with speed to market.” Digital is trending, says Buening, primarily because of benefits in speed and quality. But, she adds: “There are few who will argue that the quality of digital rivals that of litho. And, with advancements in technology and an experienced team, we at Philipp can and are prepared to produce litho labels on the same quick turn, and with the same speed-to-market approach, as digital.” Building strong relationships with customers and, in some cases, partnering with others to meet customer needs can be a viable way of staying in touch and remaining relevant. It’s not uncommon, says McLeod, for a customer to start out with a flexo-printed box and then, as their product grows, or
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as they move into new avenues, they may upgrade to three- or four-color flexo— may jump all the way into litho. “Their packaging evolves as their distribution channels change,” he says. Lone Star is well-positioned to grow with them and to remain nimble in terms of moving along the continuum from flexo to litho, depending on the project and the specific need. McLeod acknowledges, though, that as companies try to cater to more niche audiences, print runs are coming down—a trend that lends itself to “this new catchword: the digital revolution.” McLeod predicts that as customers become more aware of their flexibility to customize long print runs with niche- focused designs that demand shorter runs, digital may become more enticing. Lone Star has been doing digital for some time, he says. “We started a digital department about 12 years ago, before it was really popular.” He’s seen demand increase, he says, to the point where it has “kind of stressed the department we have in place right now.” Recently, McLeod says, Lone Star has added a low-volume flatbed digital printer that allows it to do more low-volume jobs. Customers looking for high quality, though, will still find that litho best meets their needs, says McLeod. “Digital is catching up, but it’s not there yet.” But, he says, he continues to monitor customer demand and is prepared to shift as they do. “When we start seeing customers begin to say, ‘OK, that quality of print is OK for me,’ we’re going to be looking seriously at having to jump further into the digital capability.” Staying the Course and Offering Options
For printers focused on packaging and POP, the ability to meet a wide range of customer demands related to cost, turnaround, and graphic quality is key.
“We embrace the challenge to improve our operations, understand and manage our own internal costs, be innovative, and think outside the box so we can grow together with our customers.” — Stacy Buening, executive vice president and general counsel, Philipp Lithographing Co.
flexo-litho equation depending on how Understanding what customers need the growth of the actual SKU goes. in terms of budget, as well as brand, A focus on process and efficiencies is can lead to conversations and creative workarounds. “I consider myself a student important, he says: “The more we focus on process and efficiencies, the more we of not only our industry, but of print,” can bring greater value to the brands as says John Kelley, president of Dusobox, far as creativity and color.” in Orlando. It’s a firm that was founded At Philipp Lithographing, says Buening, in 1951 by Kelley’s grandfather, John a focus on large-format printing will L. Dusseault. remain their niche. “That is not to say The North American market, says that consolidation won’t make sense for, Kelley, “hasn’t focused on process and or that digital will never have a place at, improvement to the level of, say, Western Philipp, but for now, Philipp is content Europe, if you will.” Focusing on process without the disruption,” she says. “Philipp and improvement, he says, can help drive will remain solely focused on, and costs out of systems. A lot of people, dedicated to, its large-format printing he says, have “jumped on the digital niche.” It is, she says, this format and the bandwagon because they haven’t really company’s hesitancy to jump on trend understood the printing process.” bandwagons that have helped to make it Kelley says that strategic partnerships a success. with very high-end printers around the At Dusobox, Kelley has invested in country and investments in the most digital, but he is still focused on providing advanced flexo technology and digital the highest quality possible for customers technology available allow them to offer in the litho and flexo spaces, as well. many options to customers—to work “I think in many respects flexo is actually with them to find the right options for creeping into some of the litho spend their needs. Dusobox has G7 certification with some of the advanced presses,” he and, he says, “We can say to a brand, says. But, he adds: “The ability, from ‘We’re going to put you in the most a creative standpoint, to do coatings cost-effective print execution method for your graphics.’ ” That might mean, he says, and textures and things like that just isn’t going to be possible in a flex-printed starting in digital and then moving from sheet.” Kelley points to soft-touch there to litho. If volume keeps growing, finishing as a good example of this. then they might move to flexo, or flip the
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“The more we focus on process and efficiencies, the more we can bring greater value to the brands as far as creativity and color.” — John Kelley, president, Dusobox
Flexo and litho, says Kelley, still represent go-to choices for the majority of corrugated customers. “Everybody gets caught up in it, but I think there are still major investments going on in offset presses. The value proposition in the corrugated space is still as strong as it ever was,” he says. “Is there going to be a migration in some of these different areas? Yes.” But, he says, flexo and litho aren’t going away.
From a digital standpoint, as customers learn about options they have for customizing shorter runs with a level of quality that they feel fits their needs, at a price point that’s within their budgets, their needs will evolve. Their print vendors will need to evolve as well.
Making shortrun better since 1979
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a writer based in Wisconsin. She is a frequent contributor to BoxScore.
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BOXSCORE July/August 2018
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VISION BEYOND VISION Companies are going beyond the visual aspects of packaging, catering to a full sensory experience BY JULIE RICE AND ALLI KEIGLEY
G
oing to the movies is no cheap outing these days. And whether or not I walk away feeling good about the insane amount of money I had to fork over to see the latest blockbuster, there is one thing I do know I will be completely satisfied with every single time—the popcorn. As soon as I walk into the theater, I am immediately greeted with the tantalizing smell of buttery, salty, delicious popcorn. My senses are further engaged by the unmistakable “pop, pop, pop” of a new batch being made. At this point, my mouth is watering, and I can practically taste the freshly popped kernels as I wait
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in the seemingly endless snack line to spend another obscene chunk of change. But popcorn has an iconic visual appeal and feeling, recognized by children and adults alike, that makes it hard to watch a movie without it. Even something about my greasy hands after devouring the entire tub elevates the experience for me, making it more nostalgic than messy. Just imagine for a moment that only one of your senses could be activated when you encounter popcorn. How would your popcorn experience change? We know from extensive research—if that’s what you call repeatedly inhaling a
tub of popcorn at the theater—that the appeal of popcorn is so much more than just, say, the visual experience. All five senses work hand-in-hand to override common sense and cause you to break your entertainment budget by ponying up for an overpriced snack commodity. The art of making popcorn is so much more than a visual experience; it’s one that connects with its consumers through their five senses. And packaging, much like popcorn, should work to have the same effect on consumers. Without question, the grandiose packaging on the shelves today captures a great
Adding a picture of the product to its packaging shows customers what they're actually buying, increasing their confidence in the product.
Photo courtesy of Roland Foods.
the chocolaty lusciousness of their best-selling ice cream prepurchase, an incredible photograph of the product can come pretty close. Take a look at Breyers’ tasty packaging design for their cookies and cream ice cream (below). The branding successfully utilizes the picture superiority effect with sensational photography and very few words. The packaging activates my taste buds and makes me feel as though a heaping bowlful is right in front of me, ready to be devoured. In packaging, pictures are often used symbolically to communicate what words alone are incapable of. Especially in food packaging, the reliance on imagery is everywhere you look. Images for food packaging communicate qualities like sumptuousness and healthiness—a multi tude of literal and implied messages that would take significant amounts of copy to communicate. The simple package (top right) very clearly displays the quartered artichoke pieces, letting the image tell a story that words could not.
Photo courtesy of UNILEVER Ice Cream.
deal of visual attention from those scouring their many options. Packaging serves as both the first impression for a product and the last opportunity to influence a consumer’s purchase decision. In order to do both, packaging designers have spent years focused on the visual appeal of the package (e.g., distinct color, design, logos). While we know the package’s appearance is of great importance, there is much more to the package real estate to be considered: taste, smell, touch, and sound. Today, companies are challenged to move beyond the basics by designing packages that captivate all of our senses. Let’s start with taste. This is a sense that does not intuitively come to mind in relation to packaging, yet it can drastically influence the consumers’ shopping experience. The picture superiority effect, which means that for humans, pictures are brought to mind more readily than words, plays a large role in this. In fact, pictures can often effectively replace words altogether. While it may seem impossible for brands to fully convey
Taste is a sense that is closely linked to sight. The visual aspect of the package elements influences the taste appeal through the use of vivid food imagery. And, no, I am not asking you to sink your teeth into the Cheerios box you bought for breakfast. But this sense can be related to packaging, as well. Take the development of edible packaging. With packaging waste continuing to be a major concern, the rise of this spin on packaging might be a turn in the right direction. For example, McDonald’s has introduced an edible fry container (selected locations), that gives you even more bang for your buck, while eliminating the iconic red sleeve. An article on The Culinary Exchange shows examples of some other edible packaging trends: www.theculinary exchange.com/blog/food-technology-spotlightedible-packaging. Since a major challenge of edible packaging is the strict hygiene requirements during production and distribution, the use of this type of packaging may be best suited for restaurants and takeaway consumption, where this type of food is typically stored in the container for a shorter period of time. Do Eat has jumped on this bandwagon with the creation of “IncrEDIBLE” packaging for sandwich sleeves and confections. The
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Photo by Alyson Hurt/Flickr.
A simple scratch-and-sniff portion of the packaging can engage consumers through touch and scent.
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Photos by Alli Keigley.
reportedly neutral-tasting packaging is made from water, potato starch, and vegetable ink. Visit www.doeat.com/en to check out this unique packaging. A European baking company, Dr. Oetker, has brought this trend to the sweets world with edible cupcake wrappers that are bake-stable and gluten-free. The thick wafer material is much tastier than paper, even though it may confuse your party guests. Similar to taste, smell may not be something that pops into your head when thinking about packaging. When it comes to smell, we typically think of flowers, freshly baked cookies, coffee, and popcorn (of course). But many innovative companies are finding ways to incorporate scent into their packaging. Recent scent research has found that 75 percent of all emotions generated each day are due to smell, and because of this, we are 100 times more likely to remember something we smell over something we see, hear, or touch. For this reason, the scent of personal hygiene products is typically important for those who want to keep all of their teeth and not offend their neighbor. However, it is generally considered a faux pas to open a package of toothpaste or deodorant before buying it, so consumers
Wine labels are a fine example of how artful texturing (e.g., foil stamping and emobssing) can draw consumers through touch, as well as sight.
are left to question the intensity of the scent. Scratch-and-sniff stickers can offer a solution by allowing consumers a sneak peek of their “Cool Rush� deodorant without angering store managers. Along with the more customary household products that are typically infused with scent, some companies want to go one step further and put scent into products like ordinary corrugated boxes. I read about a company that hopes to create a memorable brand experience by having their corrugated boxes smell like freshly cut grass. Why freshly cut grass, you may ask? According to the local news source, the idea came from a sports shoe retailer that wanted to encourage their clientele to run outdoors in their new footwear by luring them in with the smell of freshly cut grass. As you are surely seeing by now, packaging design should incorporate more than just visual stimulation, and touch is another sense that can be effectively used to captivate the consumer. Touch plays a major role in purchase decisions, since humans are highly tactile creatures. A study conducted by some of the top universities in the United States found that weight, texture, and softness of
objects influences the way people perceive and interpret them. Packaging designers understand that the tactile experience should convey something special about the product or help it to stand out. This experience can be relayed on the package through the addition of coatings, finishes, and press effects. The wine category does a great job transforming static labels using high-quality printing and effects. A trip down any wine aisle showcases textured papers, decorative foil stamping, embossed letters, stamps, and other signature touches. Seizing a fantastic opportunity to engage consumers with the allure of touch, Smirnoff launched new flavors of their Brazilian Caipiroska. The fruitinfused vodka line comes in three different flavors: lemon, strawberry, and passion fruit. Each flavor is wrapped to imitate the look of the corresponding fruit, and consumers get the unusual opportunity to peel their beverage before partaking. Sound, the last of the five senses, can surprisingly come to life in packaging through immersion tactics. Applying this human factor to packaging results in a state of mental focus so strong that the observer loses awareness of
Photo courtesy of The Smirnoff Co.
reality, most often resulting in feelings of satisfaction and joy. While it is difficult to gauge which elements will create a truly immersive experience for each individual, immersion is a worthy goal to pursue. And the advance of packaging technology today allows for any number of creative endeavors. 19 Crimes was quick to take advantage of the evolving packaging technology with their interactive wine labels. When you place your smartphone in front of the label while using their app, the prisoner on the label comes to life and tells you their woeful tale. More than just a fun gimmick, giving consumers this kind of experience while they view your package design can greatly increase the rate of purchase. Kouki & Co. has created a conceptual snack brand that literally speaks to you (or serenades you). This visionary snack brand, cleverly named Sound Bites, was inspired by Oxford University’s research that suggests “sound influences the taste of food.” The premise of this brand is that food is “infused with” instrumental music or the sound of nature, with different instruments and sounds being used to enhance individual flavors. For example, brass instruments would coordinate with flavors that are
Giving the customer something to unwrap, or unbox, adds interaction to the sensory packaging experience.
rich and bold, while the ocean melody would be matched with flavors that are fresh and salty. Though we are still waiting for this musical package to hit the shelves and serenade us at our next dinner party, this could be the way of the future for food packaging. I know I will be keeping an ear out! So, back to popcorn and the movies. Though you typically leave with an empty wallet—but full stomach—it is the experience that keeps you coming back. And
the same goes for packaging. With consumers encountering more than 30,000 products within a typical grocery store, it is crucial that the packaging act as a vehicle for creating a memorable brand experience. Think of a piece of popcorn. Visually, it may not be overwhelmingly appealing, but we all know and love it because of the experience we connect with it. For you to remain in the game—at the risk of sounding corny—your packaging should pop off of the shelves.
Photo by Alli Keigley.
Julie Rice is the academic director at The Packaging School. She can be reached at 330-774-8542 or julie@ packagingschool.com.
Convicts come to life on this wine label with the help of a smartphone app.
Alli Keigley is the production coordinator at The Packaging School. She can be reached at 864-360-3115 or alli@ packagingschool.com.
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One company has had a century-long impa for more than 30 years, continues to be felt BY IAN CARLTON
100 YEARS AND COUNTING One company, despite not existing for more than 30 years, continues to impact the entire industry BY IAN CARLTON
A
nniversary milestones are always significant events. The corrugated industry, like many other industries, is filled with people and companies who made lasting impressions and significant contributions. Had they been able to remain in business, S&S Corrugated Box Machinery Co. of Brooklyn, N.Y., would have celebrated their 100th anniversary in April 2017. This tremendous milestone went by pretty much unnoticed by our industry. Not for me, though. I noticed because this is an exceptionally big event in my life. As a self-appointed historian of all things S&S, as well as the collector of a wide variety of S&S memorabilia, I believe this milestone event deserves to be noticed. S&S was founded by two gentlemen whose names were Isaac Stern and Eugene St. Eve. They were actually friends who had worked together at other companies before launching their own business. It was only a few years
Independent corrugated box manufacturers and S&S shared close relationships throughout the years. After all, independent corrugators were usually family-owned businesses, and so was S&S. after the startup of S&S when St. Eve had to leave for personal reasons. Stern purchased St. Eve’s share of the business but kept the name S&S. The company went on to develop and produce some of the finest corrugated boxmaking equipment ever made. In its heyday, S&S had manufacturing facilities in Brooklyn; Haarlem, Netherlands; Leiston, England; and Dundalk, Ireland, as well as a licensing agreement with Ishikawa Heavy Industries of Japan. There was even a small manufacturing plant in California
where S&S stocked a tremendous amount of spare parts, making them the only machinery maker with East and West Coast facilities. Independent corrugated box manufacturers and S&S shared close relationships throughout the years. After all, independent corrugators were usually family-owned businesses, and so was S&S. There were a lot of commonalities and natural bonds between them. As a way to assist independent boxmakers to acquire machinery that was state-of-the-art, S&S offered these companies deferred payment
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Photos by Ian Carlton.
These items, as part of Carlton's collection of S&S memorabilia, offer some tangibility to the company's legacy.
plans and generous financing terms. S&S was instrumental in helping these companies get off the ground and on their way to success. As I enter my 38th year of service to the corrugated industry, I begin to think back to where and how it all started. Like so many in our great industry, I got involved in corrugated completely by accident. I did not go to school to become a boxmaker. Actually, I’m a “car guy.” I was working for Chrysler Corp. and was on the fast track to becoming a district service manager. Remember the movie My Cousin Vinny? When Mona Lisa Vito
eliminated due to the financial crisis the company was in. This all took place just about a month before Lee Iacocca took over as president and saved the company. If the timing had been a little different, I might have stayed there and spent my career in the auto industry. As technical service manager for Stafford Corrugated Products, I have the privilege of visiting box plants all over the country. In my travels, I am constantly on the lookout for S&S machinery still in operation producing high-quality corrugated products. It never ceases to amaze me the overall number of S&S
S&S double backers, glue stations, roll stands, and preheaters/preconditioners are still in use, running in line with modern high-speed equipment. (Marisa Tomei) explains to the judge why she is an expert in general automotive knowledge? Her father, her grandfather, brothers, uncles, and cousins were all mechanics. Welcome to my world. My position and the training program I was studying under at Chrysler were
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machines in service—especially when you consider that S&S has been out of business for more than 30 years. As a full-line manufacturer of all corrugated machinery, they certainly produced a great number and variety of machines—everything from stand-alone units like sample tables,
all the way to full-size corrugators. Often, I will be at a customer’s plant, and I will see in their design lab a modern, state-ofthe-art sample maker with full computer control. Right alongside that will be an S&S model FD sample table. You’ve probably seen one. It has large hand shears for cutting the board and a foot-operated score bar to impress the scores into the sheet. Hard to believe that there was once a time when the sample maker had to produce his samples one by one on a machine like this. However, this is how it was done, and just about every box plant had one of these machines in use. In today’s plants, you do not see many full-line S&S corrugators still in service. However, it is quite common to see individual components from the original corrugator still in operation. S&S double backers, glue stations, roll stands, and preheaters/preconditioners are still in use, running in line with modern high-speed equipment. What you do see in many plants today are S&S flexo folder gluers and printer slotters. The model ZLR was arguably the best machine of its kind ever built. The proof of that statement is in the number of ZLR machines still in service today. Before the days of the flexo folder gluer, a typical box plant used a printer slotter and a glue or taper machine to
S&S printed several volumes of product brochures promoting the company's machinery, some of which is still useful today. The brochure at left was printed in the 1950s.
Photo by Ian Carlton.
complete the finished RSC. S&S offered three different model printer slotters. The Captain was a 35"x80" machine. The Admiral was a 50"x100" machine. And for those who needed something bigger, there was the Gargantuan, which was a 72"x140" machine. Although by around 1960 S&S stopped building this class of machine, there are still many that operate in box plants all over the world every day. While S&S is probably most remembered for their bulletproof flexo folder gluers, let us not forget some of the other machinery they produced. There was a flatbed die cutter called the Model C Diemaster, straight-line folder gluers, the Overhung Eccentric Slotter (see product brochure at right), and a plethora of tapers, folders, slitters, and more. When I began my career with S&S, I was still in school and separated from Chrysler for well over a year. I had a couple of jobs in between, but nothing that really interested me. Back in that era, there was no internet, so job hunting was a task relegated to the Help Wanted section of the Sunday New York Times. I accidentally stumbled across an ad for a company that was looking for a field service coordinator for a manufacturer of corrugated boxmaking machinery. They were not looking for direct experience in the box industry, but instead someone who had a background in service management. I thought there might be a fit with my Chrysler experience, so I mailed (as in snail mail) my résumé and waited for a response. Eventually, I was brought in for an interview. I was completely taken aback by the manufacturing capabilities of this company. I could say this even after having spent a lot of time on automotive production lines. The various machine shops and assembly areas, all in several buildings next to each other, were a sight
to behold. I was offered the position and started work, learning all about this exciting industry. Turns out, it was one of the best decisions I had ever made in my life. I was fortunate to have a boss who saw my interest in the machinery and allowed me to travel out in the field alongside the service technicians, in order to gain firsthand knowledge about the equipment and its usage. In my current position, I spend a great deal of time working with machine crews, their supervisors, and managers of box plants. It saddens me when I am talking with a die cut or corrugator supervisor about an S&S machine or something that S&S developed, and they do not recognize the name or have any idea who or what S&S was. The list of innovations or firsts that S&S provided to our industry is incredible. I will often go into a customer’s plant and come across a particular S&S machine that I have a personal history
with, and it will literally bring tears to my eyes. It might have been a machine for which I was part of the original installation team or one for which I accompanied the field service tech on a major repair or retrofit. It’s nice to know that after all these years, both that machine and I are still working. Even though the actual anniversary was April 2017, let’s take a moment today and wish S&S a belated happy 100th anniversary. They were a company that meant so much to not only me, but also our industry. Ian Carlton is manager of technical services at Stafford Corrugated Products and has spent much of his career dedicated to preserving the legacy of S&S. He can be reached at 856-761-4500 or ianc@go2stafford.com.
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A MATTER OF DECISION Appropriately evaluating your presses is the first step to boosting productivity—and your bottom line JASON CAGLE AND JOHN RASTETTER
I
t is possible to increase productivity and efficiency by addressing two key problem areas that impact all flexo printers alike. Over time, subtle shifts occur in print but often go unnoticed, both the good and the bad. In order to recognize these changes, the old saying about being too close to the coalface applies: It is necessary to step back and take a fresh look. Once identified, problem areas can be carefully observed and their origin thoroughly understood, and waste elimination can begin. Two of the greatest contributors to decreasing efficiency and productivity are poor press speeds and press downtime, both capable of causing unnecessary delays and rework. There are enormous benefits in addressing these two over arching issues with the proper data and a willingness to change. Productivity is defined by Webster’s dictionary as “the effectiveness of productive effort as measured in terms of the rate of output.” In other words, it is the act of
Complementing advancements of the anilox roll, digitally imaged flexo printing plates have evolved by leaps and bounds since they were first introduced in 1995. increasing productivity that creates value on the bottom line. This type of growth is the way to happier customers, as well as greater profitability and sustainability. In this case, the way to increase productivity and efficiency is through a reduction of off-press activities and the ability to minimize lost press hours. The end goal is to keep presses running for longer than they currently are and to lessen the effects of anything that increases downtime or slows the press. As the heart of the press, an incorrectly chosen or poorly maintained anilox roll is a major contributor when it comes to these problems. On the other hand,
properly specified, properly maintained, and properly produced rolls deliver results. Another key component is the photopolymer plate. Calibration of the plate is required to meet graphic requirements utilizing various technologies such as flat-top dot, selected durometer, and plate-surface texture. Without proper plate-to-anilox calibration, difficulties are sure to arise. Most commonly, these obstacles include: slow press runs, costly double bumps, setup times, ink toning at press side, and general print fidelity. There is clear evidence that the abovestated complications are truly the greatest culprits, stealing away profits through loss
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Anilox Specifications by Process Volume
60-Degree Line Screen
Eflo Line Screen
150–200 Line Screen Process
1.9
1,000
1,500
120–133 Line Screen Process
2.2
900
1,350
85–110 Line Screen Process
2.5
800
1,200
Combination Screen and Text
3.5
600
900
5
400
600
Combination Text and Solids
6.5
330
440
Solids
7.5
280
360
Heavy Solids and Varnish
8.5
250
330
Wide Web Uncoated Paper
Volume
60-Degree Line Screen
Eflo Line Screen
100–120 Line Screen Process
2.8
700
900
85 Line Screen Process
3.5
550
700
Combination Screen and Text
4.5
440
600
Text Only
5.5
360
500
Combination Text and Solids
6.5
330
440
Solids
7.5
280
360
9
220
300
Volume
60-Degree Line Screen
Eflo Line Screen
150–200 Line Screen Process
1.7
1,100
1,500
120–133 Line Screen Process
1.9
1,000
1,350
85–110 Line Screen Process
2.2
900
1,200
Combination Screen and Text
3
660
900
Text Only
4
500
660
Combination Text and Solids
5
400
550
Solids
6
330
440
7.5
280
360
Wide Web Film and Coated Paper
Text Only
Heavy Solids and Varnish
Narrow Web
Heavy Solids and Varnish
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The result of testing and auditing will help to identify problem areas and to align the company’s actual outcome with its goals. of efficiency. Substantiation of this claim can be clearly seen in data regarding make-ready time, and waste factors such as ink and substrates. Other major statistical indicators include the average number of jobs per shift, colors per job, startup waste, and starts vs. stops. The chart on Page 68 has been established as a general rule in the selection of anilox specifications. It is always best to start with a volume/BCM target, then establish the LPI of the engraving. This will confirm that the correct amount of ink is available to the plate and print, while ensuring the strongest roll. A properly specified anilox with a depth-toopening ratio of 25 percent to 30 percent will consistently release ink and readily be replenished by the doctor blade chamber. This will reduce plugging and increase consistency in print and density. While results show that there are differing and sometimes multiple problems that may stand in the way of achieving the desired productivity and efficiency, methods are readily available to help any printer realize their fullest potential. Through identification of ideal print packages that are based on what they wish to accomplish, bottom-line improvements can easily be made. When this occurs, there will be a greater print capacity, as well as higher and more consistent quality. Complementing advancements of the anilox roll, digitally imaged flexo printing plates have evolved by leaps and bounds since they were first introduced in 1995. In the past, during long runs at converters,
press operators would need to stop the press during a run in order to clean plates due to dirty print. Now, with the latest corrugated technology, converters are able to increase their productivity and efficiency by having less press downtime. These new corrugated plates are designed to easily release more ink, and this, in turn, allows for cleaner highlights and less downtime cleaning the plates. However, it is important to keep in mind the relationship between the cells per inch (CPI) of the anilox and the images’ lines per inch (LPI) on the plate. The relationship between CPI and LPI is recommended to stay between 5:1 and 6:1. This means if a converter is running 150 LPI, they should have an anilox that is at least 750 CPI to avoid dirty printing. There are certain cases in which a converter is able to print with a lower CPI anilox to increase their volume, but this increases susceptibility to dirty printing. The simplest means of identifying ideal print packages for achieving the desired outcome is to arrange for customer-specific testing and a banded roll test, dialing in the plate and anilox. Through these specialized services, plates can be calibrated with proper anilox rolls for much higher efficiency. The result of testing and auditing will help to identify problem areas and to align the company’s actual outcome with its goals. Once these evaluations have highlighted the prominent issues, it’s strongly encouraged to follow a maintenance program to provide for the greatest
consistency in print. Data confirms that when volume drops 15 percent below the targeted BCM, it creates density issues, more press-side ink toning/adjustments, and consequently, an increase in downtime. Through regular maintenance, this downtime can be greatly reduced. In summary, before proper maintenance can become standard operating procedure, it is first necessary for printers to understand their starting point and to establish their goals. This is the key to overcoming these two problem areas of press downtime and reduced press speed. With the constant evolution of anilox roll and plate technology, becoming more productive and efficient is easier than one may think. In the end, once this tangible goal is established through the knowledge that comes from utilizing the services of experienced auditors and testing agents, true increases in productivity and efficiency are only a matter of decision. Jason Cagle is application development specialist at MacDermid Graphics Solutions. He can be reached at jason.cagle@ macdermid.com.
John Rastetter is vice president of sales, flexo division, at Pamarco. He can be reached at john.rastetter@ pamarco.com.
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The Associate Advantage
High Graphics, High Speed, Versatile Configurations DAVE BURGESS JB MACHINERY VICE CHAIRMAN DBURGESS@JBMACHINERY.COM
ED GARGIULO EQUIPMENT FINANCE CORP. CHAIRMAN EGARGIULO@EFC-FINANCE.COM
PAT SZANY AMERICAN CORRUGATED MACHINE CORP. SECRETARY PSZANY@ACM-CORP.COM
JOE MORELLI HUSTON PATTERSON PRINTERS DIRECTOR JMORELLI@HUSTONPATTERSON.COM
JEFF PALLINI FOSBER AMERICA IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN PALLINIJ@FOSBER.COM
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T
he last five to 10 years have seen an unprecedented re-equipping period for the corrugated industry globally, as companies try to become more efficient, offer a broader range of products, and develop faster speed-to-market to quench the thirst of the big-box retailers and the ever-growing e-commerce companies. High graphics have become increasingly important, particularly for the big-box stores, where “sales” people don’t exist and the product is placed on pallets or shelving at various heights. In these cases, it is the packaging that sells the product. We have seven seconds to immediately catch the consumer’s eye and deliver a message that the consumer “must have” this product. I think we are all guilty of visiting Home Depot or Costco with a particular purchase in mind, only to leave having spent double what we budgeted, and having purchased that product that we didn’t need but quickly decided we couldn’t do without. That is the job that the packaging is employed to do. To be able to print these high-graphics, companies have been purchasing five-, six-, seven-, and even eight-color die cutters and flexo folder gluers, the latter becoming popular on the West Coast for the wine and produce business. These machines are extremely large investments and require a great deal of support equipment, power, and floor space, but if equipped correctly, they can produce a multicolored, varnished (or UV coated) box at speeds up to and above 10,000 sheets per hour in a single pass. Most of the paper used on these machines is coated to allow the ink to “pop” off the surface and provide a glossy, attractive look that cannot be replicated on noncoated papers.
Essential equipment accessories required to complement these high-speed, high-graphics machines include infrared dryers, UV curing equipment, in-press automated plate-cleaning equipment, ink management systems, pre-feeders, highspeed stackers, and a material handling network to move the product efficiently from the machine to the loading dock. It’s quite an engineering project. Studies have shown that while these high-graphics projects are very expensive, they have been very successful, and whenever an industry downturn has occurred, it is the companies employing such technology that have continued to succeed. In our experience, once that first investment has been made, it is not uncommon to see a second or third similar machine added. This type of product offers tremendous market diversification from those corrugated companies offering just one- or two-color work on kraft or white-top paper, and sales are not simply stated. These are very high-value, high-margin products, as brand owners thirst for color, “pop,” and consistency to carry their message on their packaging. The high-graphic package also transcends the usual 100- to 150-mile radius of sales for a corrugated company. It’s not uncommon to ship this product over state lines, or even across the country. For many years, the corrugated box was simply a vehicle to protect the product during shipment, and the printing simply identified the type of product inside the box. That has now changed forever. The flexo-printed package is a vital part of the sales proposition, and the right design, the right colors, and the gloss can propel and enhance the sale of the product. This article was written by Dave Burgess.
September 24 - 27, 2018 • Indianapolis, IN
DRIVING DISRUPTION: THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
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What the Tech?
Flexo, Litho, and Digital Printing BY CHUCK DELANEY
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hat matters most: great strategy or great execution? New research finds that strategy wins, and what better way to finally execute great strategies than to be disruptive on the retail floor using a combination of digital, offset, and flexo printing? The possibilities are endless, with one wine manufacturer reporting a 79 percent increase in sales when they used case packs in a digital strategy to create floor displays, replacing the packs every four to six weeks. Strategy vs. execution—now you can achieve both in the new digital revolution. But while digital does not replace flexo and litho, it amplifies what, when, and how we can go to market by providing more flexibility and speed to market for a quicker end-to-end solution. Yes, digital printing has been gaining ground in the corrugated industry for some time and is now making significant inroads with single-pass machines. Digital printing is that 800-pound gorilla in the room impacting displays, graphics, e-commerce, and retail-ready packaging. However, digital is a complement to the packaging business disciplines, not the final nail in the flexo and litho coffins. One case study is the equipment mix at Dusobox Corp. in Orlando, Fla. They now leverage all three print converting processes of digital, litho, and flexo to bring the appropriate solution to each client’s specific need, not forcing any single process through one supply chain solution. Dusobox President John Kelley has found the secret formula by integrating all three processes for optimal success to clients’ varying packaging needs. “Our clients’ needs and expectations are changing fast, and even faster is the pace our clients’ customers are demanding,”
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Kelley says. “We have an opportunity and responsibility to educate our clients while exceeding their expectations and delivery forecasts with the latest printing tools to support future successes with innovative frontiers that digital offers.” Some printing solutions reside in using all three print solutions in the same program. Let’s say your customer will need the same 10,000 base displays, but has six different varieties of headers and/ or trays they want to roll out throughout the year. You can exceed the customer’s expectations with variable printing of headers and trays, but using flexo for your base for a year-long marketing campaign. The customers’ operating realities impact business facets that we need to address with our printing outputs. Issues of speed to market, mass customization, supply chain optimization, sustainability, obsolescence, branding, and total cost of ownership come into play with every packaging program being launched. In food packaging alone, we are anticipating a shift to more trial packs and test-size packaging to address consumer demand of convenience, as well as space-saving designs and packaging that better protects the actual food product. Opportunities for packaging and displays continue to be of focus in food convenience. Innovative shapes, angles and indentations, and digital solutions can achieve these initiatives of diversification. Consumers are also expecting more environmentally friendly options that include food-safe inks and waste reduction. We are equipped to better forecast and provide brand owners and manufacturers proactive and innovative solutions that check off all the boxes.
The great news is that corrugated’s use of digital printing will only help all ships to rise. Through the growth of e-commerce packaging, variable messaging, short runs, growth in online shopping and subscription-based packaging, consumer engagement, and the need for speed are fueling this exciting time. Digital means integrating value-added deliverables. We can develop programs that meet new retail needs of variable marketing campaigns and new product pilot blending/testing, and we can tie text and video into engagement. This offers even higher value to your customers’ marketing and business development areas. On the cost and risk side of the of the business, we see supply chains optimized due to reduction in time to market and potential elimination of obsolescence. Finally, we can run the right amount of product where and when it is needed. Additionally, the ability to watermark each packing run for verification and security is now an operating reality. In summary, these are three main areas of value that digital printing will deliver to your bottom line: optimizing print costs; reducing total operating costs; and adding value opportunities. The news is that the 800-pound gorilla is not the bad guy in the room but is adding bandwidth and greater design flexibility to the market—a new part of the corrugated print team that we have been looking for for some time. Chuck Delaney is managing director of GROW Retail Technologies. He can be reached at 708-491-5090 or cdelaney@growrt.com.
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Strength in Numbers
Putting an End to Fuzzy Math BY MITCH KLINGHER
T
he age-old question in the realm of cost accounting is, “How much overhead do I allocate to this job?” If you subscribe to this theory of “costing,” then each job must “absorb” some of the company’s overhead, or you will surely go out of business. Typically, in the cost accounting hierarchy we see the following “buckets” of costs that are charged to each order: materials — board/paper, 1 Direct labels, chipboard, ink, etc. materials — glue, baling 2 Indirect wire, tape, staples, etc.
3 Tooling 4 Direct labor — setup and run machine center variable 5 Other charges — utilities, maintenance, etc. factory overhead — indirect 6 Variable labor, employee benefits, payroll taxes, supplies, etc. overhead — rent, depreciation, 7 Fixed equipment lease, insurance, etc. costs, driver costs, 8 Delivery — truck mileage costs, etc.
9 Commission 10 Profit Thus, every order contains a myriad of charges, some that are incremental costs to the organization, some that are allocations of costs that are directly utilized in fulfilling the order, and some that are
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allocations of costs that are common to all orders. The allocation methods used vary, but they are all pretty much based upon a planned level of activity and a projection of costs. Delving into the various spreadsheets and calculations used in these allocations is a daunting task, and at the end of the day there will always be a variance between the planned level of activity and the actual level of activity, and between the planned level of expenses and the actual expenses. Typically, the calculations used to calculate even the direct costs of the orders are obscured and almost impossible to audit or review on a case-by-case basis. Most systems simply use a series of adders or system-computed charges, and at the end of the day simply post one price to the books without any way to determine how it was calculated or match up the actual costs associated with fulfilling the order. In previous articles, I have advocated “unbundling” the sale for the direct costs of the order to post a sale of freight, tooling, pallets, warehousing, etc., in addition to a sale of corrugated packaging. But even if you don’t do this in a formal way, you can at least look at the true direct costs of the order and establish a material margin and an overall contribution margin. Costing consultants talk about the need for a rational allocation of costs to ensure that they are covered by the orders, but just because an allocation method is rational doesn’t mean that it is relevant, or that it helps you make good business decisions. In a manufacturing environment where a large number of homogenous products are made in large, time-consuming “batches,” this kind of cost-plus thinking is far more relevant. In a “custom job shop,” where
most of the costs are relatively fixed over a fairly wide range of production, this kind of cost-plus thinking can make a manufacturer very uncompetitive, by making him try to charge far more than the market will bear, in an effort to cover his costs. All of this “fuzzy math” that is used to allocate these fixed and relatively fixed costs makes understanding the profitability of an order difficult at best. In a competitive market, the lowest-cost producer will have an advantage. This doesn’t mean that every order will go to the lowest-cost producer, because quality, consistency, delivery times, creativity, and other intangibles often carry the day. Companies that possess many or all of these intangibles often price themselves out of contention because of all of these allocations. The notion that you can go to market by pricing your orders based upon your direct costs, plus an allocation of your overhead, plus a provision for profit often leads to above-market pricing and missed opportunities. If allocating costs to myriad custom jobs constitutes fuzzy math and a reduction in your ability to understand the impact of an order on your business, then firming up the various
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Strength in Numbers
measurements of time associated with each order can be your salvation. At the end of the day, how much overhead each order must absorb is far less important than how much of your finite resources the order consumed and what the basic markup over true direct costs was. There is no general ledger account for machine hours, yet it is the most important finite resource that you have. The variable
profitability of a machine hour is possibly the key factor in understanding your business, yet there is no mechanism in most accounting systems to calculate this in any formal way. Machine hours, production labor hours, and delivery hours are all very finite resources, yet most of you are not doing enough to make sure that you are measuring these resources properly and comparing them
Attend the School for Financial Managers seminar, November 13–14, to create a better financial strategy. Learn more at www.aiccbox.org/calendar.
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to the variable profitability of the orders that they produce. My advice is to take the resources that you are now devoting to cost allocation and use them to build a system of formal time measurements. Put an end to the fuzzy math of cost allocations and sharpen up your measurements of machine, labor, and delivery times, and you will improve your understanding of your business and the impact of an order on your bottom line. Mitch Klingher is a partner at Klingher Nadler LLP. He can be reached at 201-731-3025 or mitch@ klinghernadler.com.
To create Smart Factory, Adding Corrugated Scheduling By Acquiring
Amtech, the North American leader in software for the packaging industry, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Avista Scheduling Solutions. Development will commence immediately on the creation of intelligent automation with equipment integration. The acquisition of Avista will provide an end-to-end, all in one system, revolutionizing the mdern packaging plant: • • •
Through automation one master scheduler to manage three plans (Corrugator, Converting and Shipping) eliminating outdated interfaces Reducing overall waste and improving through put
For additional information, contact Darren Artillio at: dartillio@amtechsoftware.com
International Corrugated Packaging Foundation I N T E R N AT I O N A L
PACKAGING
CORRUGATED
F O U N D AT I O N
ICPF to Provide Universities Additional $1 Million to Further Expand Curricula
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ver the past two decades, ICPF has placed almost $12 million of equipment, and millions more in software, within packaging programs at colleges and universities around the nation. That figure continues to grow. This past May, the ICPF Board of Directors reviewed nine university proposals to further advance their corrugated curricula for students. The university proposals were received in response to ICPF’s Corrugated Packaging Awards’ request for proposals that was released late last year. Because of the strength of the entries, the ICPF Board voted to provide three years of funding and equipment to support the new initiatives at all nine universities. Funding was additionally approved for
a rolling Corrugated Packaging Awards program to which universities can apply as new opportunities to expand corrugated programming for students emerge. After signing letters of agreement, those universities that will receive funding, equipment, and design software over the next three years will include Clemson University, Millersville University, Rutgers University, North Carolina State University, Indiana State University, University of Texas at Arlington, Western Michigan University, Cal Poly, and Lewis-Clark State College. Some of the elements of new initiatives enabled by ICPF will include: the creation of three new corrugated packaging design labs; the funding for additional dedicated
corrugated faculty at four universities, which will expand the curricula and the number of undergraduate students within each program; the introduction of corrugated sales and business into packaging coursework; the launch of corrugated packaging curricula within two existing paper science engineering programs; the creation and execution of a prototype to promote corrugated packaging to attract additional high school students into university packaging classes; the expansion of a packaging design program to include the evaluation and testing of corrugated materials; and the creation of new packaging degrees and certification programs for undergraduate students.
Jim Porter Inducted Into ICPF’s Circle of Distinguished Leaders
D
uring the recent annual meeting of the Fibre Box Association (FBA) and the ICPF’s Spring Board meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., Jim Porter, president of business development and Latin America at WestRock, was inducted as the 24th member of ICPF’s Circle of Distinguished Leaders. The Circle of Distinguished Leaders honors exceptional visionaries whose energy and talent have moved the industry forward in remarkable ways. These leaders are recognized for demonstrating a strong commitment to the continuing success of the global corrugated packaging industry.
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Jim was nominated for induction by firms that made donations in his name to support ICPF. To date, these firms include WestRock, Akers Packaging Service, Buckeye Corrugated Inc., Central Package & Display, Gerber Technology, Great Northern Corp., Green Bay Packaging, Greif, Jamestown Container, Landaal Packaging, Liberty Diversified International, Menasha, Pacific Southwest Container, Pratt Industries, Schwarz Partners, Sumter Packaging, FBA, AICC, and AF&PA. Those who wish to join in honoring Jim with a donation can make a check payable to ICPF and mail it to:
International Corrugated Packaging Foundation 113 S. West St., 3rd Floor Alexandria, VA 22314 Please write “Jim Porter” in the check’s note margin. Donations are fully tax-deductible and support ICPF’s educational initiatives for the corrugated packaging industry. Jim will be provided a list of donors at the AICC fall meeting in Indianapolis. For more information on nominating a candidate for ICPF’s Circle of Distinguished Leaders, contact info@icpfbox.org, call 703-549-8580, or visit www.careersincorrugated.org.
International Corrugated Packaging Foundation I N T E R N AT I O N A L
PACKAGING
CORRUGATED
F O U N D AT I O N
New York City Ballet photo © Paul Kolnik.
ICPF Holiday Weekend in New York Participants to Attend George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker
ICPF Holiday Weekend participants will be given the opportunity to see George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, one of New York’s most popular holiday shows.
T
his December’s 2018 Holiday Weekend in New York will include a Saturday matinee of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, with music by Tchaikovsky. A first for ICPF’s Holiday Weekend, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker presentation at Lincoln Center is considered the most popular version of this special holiday production in the world. The weekend event (Friday, December 7, through Sunday, December 9) will begin with a Friday evening reception at Sardi’s restaurant, sponsored by Pratt Industries. ICPF guests then will attend the Saturday
matinee of The Nutcracker, sponsored by BW Papersystems. Saturday night, participants will be treated to a reception and dinner at a renowned New York restaurant. The reception is sponsored by Fosber America, and the dinner is sponsored by Bobst North America. Gerber Technology and Greif are additional sponsors of the weekend. Space is limited to 55 couples, and it is anticipated ICPF’s holiday event will sell out early. Therefore, registration and hotel reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis. ICPF recommends registering this summer,
but no later than September 1. You can request a registration form by emailing registration@icpfbox.org or visiting www.careersincorrugated.org to download it. Half of the registration is a donation to support ICPF’s educational initiatives and is tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. Richard Flaherty is president of the International Corrugated Packaging Foundation.
BOXSCORE www.aiccbox.org
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The Final Score
The Tenure of Your Company’s Workforce: Your Strength and Your Weakness
A
ICC recently released its biennial Salary, Hourly Wage & Benefit Survey. The 2018 report collected salary and wage data from 85 member companies employing 8,872 workers across the U.S. As I was doing my normal review of the data tables provided by our third-party statistics-gathering firm, something struck me about the nature of our AICC members’ workforces, and that is the average number of years of service that workers in our industry have given our member companies. To me, the numbers show a dedicated, experienced workforce delivering the very best in quality, customer service, and creative innovation. For example, looking at the corrugator and sheet feeder respondents in the West/Midwest and Southeast, we see that their double-backer operators have, respectively, average years of service of 24 and 21.5 years. The rookies are working in the Great Lakes states and have a mere 13 years’ experience. Our sheet plant members responded with similarly impressive numbers. Consider, for example, the scheduler position. Members in the Southwest/Southeast areas report that their schedulers have 17.2 years of experience in that position; in the Northeast, it’s 21 years! I could go on in position after position, whether salaried or hourly. The numbers are the same. These brief examples are illustrative of the kinds of data our survey reveals. But this column is not about selling you a survey; it’s to make a point about the value that an experienced and educated workforce brings to you and your customers. While years-of-service awards are common in all walks of the business community, I suspect that the breadth of the employment longevity revealed by our 2018 survey is unique to independent, privately held businesses such as AICC members. Yet, as loudly as these examples speak about the strengths of an experienced workforce, they also reveal the fact that we have an aging workforce, one whose participants will be reaching retirement age sooner rather than later. And how, with the workforce recruitment challenges being faced across the manufacturing landscape, will we replace them fast enough? Here’s where Al Hoodwin’s suggestion, explained in his opening column in this issue, makes sense: The industry has to continue to expand the spectrum of box plant processes that can be automated. We have many current examples—things like machine feeding and takeoff and material handling—but what are the others, those not as obvious? Here’s where you come in. Send a note to our helpwanted@aiccbox.org email address and tell us your thoughts about this issue. Our industry’s supplier members are making great strides in helping member companies automate not only for efficiency, but also to solve the problem of so many years of boxmaking experience that will be lost in the years ahead.
Steve Young President, AICC
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