Nov/ Dec BoxScore: AICC's New Chair

BOXSCORE www.AICCbox.org

OFFICERS

Chairwoman: Jana Harris, Harris Packaging/American Carton, Haltom City, Texas

First Vice Chairman: Matt Davis, Packaging Express, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Vice Chairs: Gary Brewer, Package Crafters, High Point, North Carolina

Finn MacDonald, Independent II, Louisville, Kentucky Terri-Lynn Levesque, Royal Containers Ltd., Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Immediate Past Chairman: Gene Marino, Akers Packaging Service Group, Chicago, Illinois

Chairman, Past Chairmen’s Council: Jay Carman, StandFast Packaging Group, Carol Stream, Illinois

President: Michael D’Angelo, AICC Headquarters, Alexandria, Virginia

Secretary/General Counsel: David Goch, Webster, Chamberlain & Bean, Washington, D.C.

AICC Canada: Lee Gould

DIRECTORS

West: Sahar Mehrabzadeh-Garcia, Bay Cities, Pico Rivera, Califormia

Southwest: Jenise Cox, Harris Packaging/American Carton, Haltom City, Texas

Southeast: Michael Drummond, Packrite, High Point, North Carolina

Midwest: Casey Shaw, Batavia Container Inc., Batavia, Illinois

Great Lakes: Josh Sobel, Jamestown Container Cos. Macedonia, Ohio

Northeast: Stuart Fenkel, McLean Packaging Pennsauken, New Jersey

AICC Canada: TBD

AICC México: Sergio Menchaca, EKO Empaques de Cartón S.A. de C.V., Cortazar, Mexico

OVERSEAS DIRECTOR

Kim Nelson, Royal Containers Ltd., Brampton, Ontario, Canada

DIRECTORS AT LARGE

Kevin Ausburn, SMC Packaging Group

Springfield, Missouri

Eric Elgin, Oklahoma Interpack, Muscogee, Oklahoma

Guy Ockerlund, OxBox, Addison, Illinois

Mike Schaefer, Tavens Packaging & Display, Bedford Heights, Ohio

Ben DeSollar, Sumter Packaging, Sumter, South Carolina

Jack Fiterman, Liberty Diversifies, Omaha, Nebraska

EMERGING LEADER DELEGATES

Lauren Frisch, Wasatch Container, North Salt Lake, Utah

John McQueary, CST Systems, Atlanta, Georgia

Jordan Dawson, Harris Packaging, Haltom City, Texas

ASSOCIATE MEMBER DIRECTORS

Chairman: Greg Jones, SUN Automation Group Glen Arm, Maryland

Vice Chairman: Tim Connell, A.G. Stacker Inc Weyers Cave, Virginia

Secretary: John Burgess, Pamarco/Absolute, Roselle Park, New Jersey

Director: Jeff Dietz, Kolbus America Inc., Cleveland, Ohio

Immediate Past Chairman, Associate Members: Joseph Morelli, Huston Patterson Printers/Lewisberg Printing Co., Decatur, Illinois

ADVISORS TO THE CHAIRMAN

Al Hoodwin, Michigan City Paper Box, Michigan City, Indiana

Gene Marino, Akers Packaging Service Group Chicago, Illinois

Greg Jones, SUN Automation, Glen Arm, Maryland

PUBLICATION STAFF

Publisher: Michael D’Angelo, mdangelo@AICCbox.org

Editor: Virginia Humphrey, vhumphrey@AICCbox.org

EDITORIAL/DESIGN SERVICES

The YGS Group • www.theYGSgroup.com

Vice President: Serena L. Spiezio

Content & Copy Director: Craig Lauer

Managing Editor: Therese Umerlik

Senior Editor: Sam Hoffmeister

Copy Editor: Steve Kennedy

Art Director: Alex Straughan

Account Manager: Frankie Singleton

SUBMIT EDITORIAL IDEAS, NEWS, & LETTERS TO: BoxScore@theYGSgroup.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Maria Frustaci, Director of Administration and Director of Latin America

Cindy Huber, Director of Conventions & Meetings

Chelsea May, Education and Training Manager

Laura Mihalick, Senior Meeting Manager

Patrick Moore, Membership Services Manager

Taryn Pyle, Director of Training, Education & Professional Development

Alyce Ryan, Marketing Manager

Steve Young, Ambassador-at-Large

ADVERTISING

Taryn Pyle 703-535-1391 • tpyle@AICCbox.org

Patrick Moore 703-535-1394 • pmoore@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

PROVIDING BOXMAKERS WITH THE KNOWLEDGE NEEDED TO THRIVE IN THE PAPER-BASED PACKAGING INDUSTRY SINCE 1974

We are a growing membership association that serves independent corrugated, folding carton, and rigid box manufacturers and suppliers with education and information in print, in person, and online. AICC membership is for the full company, and employees at all locations have access to member benefits. AICC o ers free online education to all members to help the individual maximize their potential and the member company maximize its profit.

WHEN YOU INVEST AND ENGAGE, AICC DELIVERS SUCCESS.

Better Minds, Better Boxes

I’m Jana Harris, CEO and co-owner of Harris Packaging, a sheet plant in Fort Worth, Texas, and American Carton, a folding carton plant in Mansfield, Texas, along with my sister Jenise Cox and our father and founder, Joe Harris. Why have I chosen Better Minds, Better Boxes as my theme? I have a passion for educa tion, especially the education of individuals who could consider a career in our industry.

I became active with our local university, the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), in 2013 when the International Corrugated Packaging Foundation (ICPF) partnered with UTA’s College of Liberal Arts to introduce packaging design and graph ics into its course offerings. UTA supported this because it gave art students another career avenue—one they probably had never considered.

Some of our employees and I go to UTA every semester and speak about our industry. We judge its sales competitions, which have helped us snag some good sales folks. Harris Packaging sponsors a Joe Harris Scholarship in the College of Liberal Arts in our father’s honor. He’s a UTA graduate—as am I.

Since our involvement at UTA, we have hired 10 students for sales, marketing, and design. It is a great avenue for us to find employees. The benefit to our companies of investing some time with UTA has been tremendous. If you are not doing the same with your local schools, you should consider doing so.

That’s a little background about my passion. In this coming year, I am going to focus on getting the word out about our industry to the next generation of workers. I see three avenues through which we can accomplish this.

First, continued involvement and investment in our industry foundations: ICPF, which works in partnership with colleges and universities, and the Foundation for Packaging Education, which supports training for our industry’s employees. ICPF brings four-year and two-year college and university students to our plant doors. AICC’s Foundation for Packaging Education continues their develop ment inside our doors. Please continue to support or consider supporting both foundations. They are vital to the future of our industry.

Second, I believe we need to tap into the pool of talent in our trade schools and STEM high schools. By collaborating with those within the corrugated, folding carton, and rigid box industries, we can introduce paper-based packaging to an audience that has no idea we exist. I have started a relationship with my local STEM high school. It is very interested in offering packaging education to its students. Based on this recent experience, I hope to have more exciting news to share with you on STEM and how you can connect.

Finally, I don’t want to forget the young people already working in our industries. AICC and TAPPI offer their respective Emerging Leader (EL) and Young Professionals programs. If you have young, promising leaders in your organizations, please help them get involved in our industry associations. Jenise and I currently have three participating in the EL program. I recommend these programs for your upcoming superstars.

Spending time on campuses and around educators has shown me that very few students know about our industry. If they do not know us, how can they consider us? But my experience with the ELs and my 10 UTA hires has shown me that once we get them in, they are hooked and excited to be a part of our industry.

To grow our industry, we need to be in front of our next generation of workers. We have amazing career opportunities for them.

Let’s go spread the news!

Jana Harris CEO and co-owner, Harris Packaging and American Carton Co. AICC Chairwoman

A Conundrum: Ebbing GDP Amid Tight Job Market

BY DICK STORAT

Last year at this time, the U.S. econ omy was on its way to setting a recent annual high growth rate of 5.7%, as consumer spending propelled economic recovery from the recession-causing COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020. This year tells a different story, however.

During the first half of this year, there has been little growth in consumer spending after the adjustment for rising inflation. Since nondurable goods account for some three-quarters of all corrugated packaging made in the U.S., the fact that spending for these fast-mov ing goods has been declining since early this year is of special concern. The chart at right shows this weakness.

Consequently, economic activity as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) faltered and posted small declines in each of the first two quarters of this year, as indicated in the top chart on p. 5.

Concurrently, though, the labor market remained extremely tight. Jobs were being added at a rate averaging 470,000 jobs per month during the first seven months of this year. This was insufficient to satisfy the demand for workers, which reached 11.2 million in July. One reason for this shortfall is the decrease in the foreign-born working-age population. There is a shortfall of 1.7 million of these workers since before the pandemic. There are still two job openings per every unemployed worker in the U.S. Until this ratio comes down significantly, the central bank will continue to pressure the

demand side of the economy, reducing inflation-adjusted consumer spending and increasing the likelihood of recession. At midyear, the year-over-year wage gains had reached 5.7%. A search of the Indeed job search website for mentions of the hourly rates of $15 per hour and $20 per hour confirmed this trend. Since early this year, the mentions of $15 declined by 76%, while the mentions of $20 rose by 33%.

The conundrum between the lack of GDP growth and a tight labor market can be explained partly by low productivity. Businesses might be hiring actively, but if new workers are not as productive, production will falter. Several activities with their roots in the pandemic could be at work.

Earlier retirements take experienced, productive workers out of the work force. Job switching is at an all-time high. New employees require some training time to become as proficient as their predecessors, just to mention a few factors. Output per hour in the nonfarm business sector fell at an annual rate of 7.3% in the first quarter of 2022, the second-weakest reading since productivity has been reported. If this continues, the GDP decline will seem like more than a passing cloud.

The bottom chart on p. 5 shows the producer price index and the consumer price index (CPI). At the beginning of the third quarter, there was some evi dence that producer prices had peaked. This behavior is primarily the result of

gasoline and other energy prices declining. However, it remained at an uncomfortably high rate of 10% growth over the previous year. CPI growth shows a similar trend, but at around 8%, it also remains elevated well above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.

Manufactured foods are intensive consumers of cor rugated packaging. The food component of the CPI rose by 1.1% in July. That brought the year-over-year rise to 10.9%, the largest such gain since May 1979. July was the seventh consecutive month of monthly gains of 0.9% or more.

The food at home index rose 13.1% over the past 12 months, the largest annual increase since the period ending March 1979. The index for cereals and bakery products increased 15% over the year. The remaining major grocery store food groups posted increases ranging from 9.3% (fruits and vegetables) to 14.9% (dairy and related products).

The index for food away from home rose 7.6% over the past year. The index for full-service meals rose 8.9% over the past 12 months, and the index for limited-service meals rose 7.2% over the past year.

At the producer level, food inflation is also quite elevated, suggesting that consumers may still face even higher prices at grocery stores in the weeks ahead. Overall, the producer food index rose by 1% last month, bringing the annual gain to 15%. Components of the pro ducer food index that have suffered the greatest increases include fresh and dried vegetables and eggs. Vegetable prices rose an average of 12.7% in July, while eggs posted an even higher gain of 44.2%.

So, the open question as 2022 comes to a close is whether the central bank’s rapid rise in interest rates will cause enough reduction in consumer spending so businesses will not need to fill all those currently empty positions. 

New Rules on Independent Contractors Published

BY ERIC ELGIN

AICC belongs to the Small Business Legislative Council (SBLC), which actively monitors activity in all of our government branches—legislative, executive, and judiciary. It’s in the executive branch, controlled by the Biden administration, that the Department of Labor (DOL) is proposing new rules for the classification of independent contractors for the purposes of federal wage and hour laws. The DOL published these new rules on October 13, with a public comment period of 45 days.

To understand the DOL’s new proposed rules, it is important to understand the history of the rules over the past couple of years. Before 2021, the DOL used what is known as the economic realities test to determine if a worker can qualify as an independent contractor. The economic realities test looked at five factors:

• The nature and degree of the worker’s control over the work,

• The worker’s opportunity for profit or loss,

• The amount of skill required for the work,

• The degree of permanence of the working relationship, and

• Whether the work is part of an integrated unit of the business.

In the waning days of the Trump administration, the DOL issued a new final rule intended to make it easier for businesses to satisfy the economic realities test and classify workers as contractors. Under the Trump-era independent contractor rule, the DOL focused primarily on the first two factors of the economic realities test. Under

that rule, if a worker qualified as an independent contractor when looking at the factors of control and opportunity for profit and loss, the inquiry would stop there, and the independent contractor classification would be permissible. Only if there was uncertainty or ambiguity would consideration be given to the third, fourth, and fifth factors noted earlier. The rule also allowed businesses to offer certain benefits to independent contractors without undermining their classification.

The new proposed rules would reinstate the economic realities test with each factor receiving equal weight and with the worker’s and employer’s investments into their respective businesses being broken out as its own factor in the test. The pro posed rules also provide additional details on how businesses should assess the issue

of control and determine whether the work is integral to employers’ business.

How this affects you as an AICC member depends on whether you utilize independent contractors in your opera tion. If you use independent sales reps, for example, the independent contractor rules may apply to them. There may be other situations as well, so consult with your accountants and attorneys for the best guidance. Once these new rules are finalized, AICC will supply all members with a summary of their requirements. 

Eric Elgin is owner of Oklahoma Interpak and chairman of AICC’s Government Affairs subcommittee. He can be reached at 918-687-1681 or eric@okinterpak.com

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Members Meeting

AICC Takes to San Antonio in Big Texas Fashion

AICC/TAPPI Corrugated Week, September 19–21, in San Antonio, was a resounding success. Nearly 1,500 people walked the exhibit floor, covering 25,000 square feet of the Henry B. González Convention Center, and visited 164 exhibitors.

Attendees heard from the following keynote speakers: Steve York, a noted leader in the corrugated industry for over 46 years, and Michael J. Durant, a former Blackhawk pilot, prisoner of war, author of In the Company of Heroes, and inspiration for the movie Black Hawk Down. York shared insights from his unique career in 1974 with a four-year stint as a summer/hourly employee at U.S. Corrugated in Lincoln, Illinois, to his retirement in 2020 as the senior vice president of engineering and manufactur ing services at WestRock. Durant shared his experiences as a soldier and hostage and their relationship to his commitment to leadership, team building, and growth.

Attendees learned from peers during several workshop sessions, which included panel discussions on digital print,

artificial intelligence/robotics and automation, and employee recruitment and retention.

Several AICC members were also recognized for their excellence, including Gary Brewer of Package Crafters and Greg Jones of SUN Automation Group,

awards for their efforts to recruit and retain AICC members. Buckeye Corrugated Inc. won the AICC and Board Converting News Innovator of the Year award for its roller conveyor platform. Additionally, Elizabeth Collins, a student at Indiana State University, was presented with the J. Richard Troll Scholarship, and

Many AICC/TAPPI Corrugated Week attendees got a taste of Texas spirit at the Tejas Rodeo.

Photos courtesy of AICC.

Members Meeting

Ciara Johnson, a Clemson University student, represented her team that won first place in the graphics category of the Student Design Competition.

Gene Marino of Akers Packaging Group also completed his tenure as AICC chair man, and Joe Morelli of Huston Patterson and Lewisburg Printing Co. completed his term as AICC Associate chairman. Several new officers were elected, and Jana Harris of Harris Packaging and American Carton Co. was elected as chairwoman.

Many attendees also enjoyed some Texas hospitality at the Tejas Rodeo.

Major sponsors of Corrugated Week included HP, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, SUN Automation Group, Geo. M. Martin Co., Arc International, CloudLab, and A.G. Stacker Inc. Please visit www.corrugatedweek.org for a full list of sponsors.

Accompanied by his wife, Megan (left), and newly elected AICC Chairwoman Jana Harris of Harris Packaging and American Carton Co., Akers Packaging Service Group’s Gene Marino was honored for his tenure as AICC chairman.

The mechanical bull alongside the exhibit floor proved to be a popular event attraction.

Marino presents Package Crafters’ Gary Brewer (left) with an AICC Champion Award.

Marino presents SUN Automation Group’s Greg Jones (right) with an AICC Champion Award.

Marino presented the following individuals with awards for serving the Association and its members in various roles (from left): Al Hoodwin, Michigan City Paper Box Co. (on behalf of Joseph M. Palmeri, Jamestown Container Cos.); Cassi Malone, Corrugated Supplies Co.; and Joe Morelli, Huston Patterson and Lewisburg Printing Co.

Bibliography Update: Fifth Edition

BY RALPH YOUNG

Since the creation of BoxScore, it was our intention to publish a listing of my articles every two, three, or four years. It has now been two years since the last update.

With the new AICC NOW platform at NOW.AICCbox.org, you have access to all these learning opportunities in one shop. The following list contains articles and resources dating to March 2020:

• “Expected Values for Containerboards Updated” (March 2020): We keep you updated on the strength levels in several grades of linerboard and media. This testing is conducted semiannually through the American Forest and Paper Association. AICC has access to some information, and we share the highlights with you. You will find a wide range of strength values within each substance or basis weight. Some variations can be more than 40%.

• “Updating Educational Resources” (May 2020)

• “Looking Beyond COVID” (July 2020): We focus on current trends impacting your businesses.

• “Times They Are A-Changin’” (September 2020)

• “Plastics: A Primer” (March 2021): Much more details are available in significant research projects such as www.breakfreefromplastic.org and bio-agave.com. And be aware of the impact of what you’re drinking, as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé were the top three polluters globally. The two largest-polluting countries were China and India.

• “Questions Abound” (May 2021)

• “ESG Programs at the Fore” (July 2021): This is Deutsche Bank’s yearly conference about ever-increasing global

business regulations. You may need to look to suppliers such as International Paper, DS Smith (Mondi), Leipa, SCA, Metsä, and Saica to help develop your responses. You should hear more on these topics going forward. Be aware that the winds of accountability may be changing. “Green infrastructure” will continue to be an ever-evolving subject. Corporate discussions and reports from corporations will relate to:

º Renewable energy

º Emissions and supply chains

º Investors’ perceptions of climate change

º Reduced energy

º Scope 3 or greenhouse gases through the entire supply chain

º Sustainable suppliers

º Reducing waste

º Measuring emissions

º Environmental awareness

• “Expected Values of Domestic Containerboard Grades: Fourth Edition” (September 2021): For a more advanced understanding of this raw material, we point you to the digital brochure Understanding the Key Characteristics of Linerboard and Medium and Their Impact on Combined Corrugated Board

• “Score Cracking Revisited – Again” (November 2021)

• “Microflute and Paperboard – Another Update” (March 2022): These are the highlights of the many seminars, webinars, and articles that Tom Weber, AICC folding carton technical advisor, and others have shared over the past four years. We reintroduced the corner crush and block compression testing methods, most often used for solid fiber

paperboards but useful with E flute and thinner corrugated.

• “Glue Tabs: Failures?” (May 2022): We discovered a study that answered a question about what the strongest glue tab method is—cold-set adhesive, hotmelt adhesive, tape, or stitch/staples. Here is what was reported in pounds per inch per tensile: cold-set adhesive: 127#; hot-melt adhesive: 109#; tape: 53#; and stitch/staples: 26#.

• “ESG: Round Two” (July 2022)

• “Takeaways From Our Most Recent Webinars” (September 2022): Recently, Weber and I collaborated on a six-part webinar series, which is available to you through your AICC membership: º 2022 Fluted vs. Paperboard Workshop Update (three-part series) º Testing Requirements to Guarantee Board Strength

º How to Build a Lab: Material Testing º Physical Attributes of Paperboard/Containerboard

AICC’s Packaging University has nearly 100 modules. Among the resources are a learning segment, Warp: Its Causes and Remedies, and two white papers, Fluted and Paperboard and Score Cracking: Its Causes and Remedies 

Ralph 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

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Hire an ‘Ever-Blooming Rose’

BY TOM WEBER

Employees and culture are two of the most important assets a company can build upon. Hiring new executives, who are integral to developing both, is never an easy task! How many times have you seen one of these scenarios? A newly hired executive almost immediately makes a positive impact on the company. On the other side of the coin is the new executive who creates more turmoil and upheaval than is good for a company.

Hiring the right people is one of the most strategic, cost-saving, and value-producing practices a company can implement. The goal is to hire that “ever-blooming rose” that rejuvenates themself and others and adds great value as they blossom in their role. The differential is the selection process of these strategic executives. It is not an easy task to fi nd the executive who is a perfect fit for a role. It requires a unique set of skills of those who are fi nding the candidates and of those who are in the hiring progression.

Few companies actually have a complete, defined recruiting process that includes every person involved in the decision. The first requirement is to truly understand the needs of the company, the definition of success in the position, and the appropriate skill sets required for the role. While this sounds simple, this procedure many times is quickly homogenized to get a job brief written and candidates into the pipeline. Next is to have everyone involved in the process agree to the needs to be fulfilled and the skill sets required. Often during an interview process, those interviewing have different viewpoints on the issues and the best skills for creating solutions.

A recruiter must have a strong grasp of the company culture and the requirements for the role. Understanding

culture goes a long way in the ability to transition the correct type of executive into a role. It would be of great value if they had actual experience in retail, the position, and the type of company. They need to understand the grassroots culture that allows the company to be successful. Defi ne the culture on paper, and create questions that identify the characteristics of a candidate who would be a good fit. A strong candidate must know the basic elements such as daily decision-making and, on a higher level, have the talents needed for long-term success in the role. Create a detailed job brief that, through the overview and requirements, immediately defi nes a clear pathway for the proper candidates to be determined. Initially, one has to search out those who have the skills on paper. Once accomplished, prepare a list of questions that lead the dialogue beyond a candidate’s resumé history and into an understanding of their true skill sets, desires, and fit into the culture.

Have discussions with the hiring manager and the team who will be interviewing the candidate. Make sure everyone is concentrating on the same elements when interviewing. Creating a set of leading questions for the interviewers, which again delves beyond the candidate’s resumé, can be of great help. Do allow for independent questions to occur where needed. Don’t make first-impression or gut decisions as to the quality of a candidate. Take your time and control the interview so no one is hawking the company and

candidates do not oversell themselves. Th is is a matching of needs and skills. You need to be looking for the best solution for each party. Consider follow-up interviews with a different set of questions, including a few that have already been asked of the candidate. Confirm that the original decision was the correct one.

Th is is a broad overview of the methodology in a strong hiring process. There are many more detailed elements, but this aff ords you some insight into the opportunities and needs of hiring the correct executives. Create a set of recruiting and interview procedures that bring forward candidates who can be “blooming roses” and deliver strong value to your company and its continual positive cultural growth. 

Tom Weber is president of WeberSource LLC and is AICC’s folding carton and rigid box technical advisor. Contact Tom directly at asktom@aiccbox.org

Strategies to Increase Website Leads

BY TODD M. ZIELINSKI AND LISA BENSON

It is not a secret that buyers conduct self-directed online research and have short-listed their choice of vendors before ever speaking with a salesperson. This is why it is more important than ever to ensure you have a solid inbound marketing strategy so customers can find you—not only find you but be motivated to contact you. Inbound marketing should be combined with outbound mar keting as part of your overall marketing strategy to see the greatest impact.

Inbound and Outbound Marketing Explained

As you know, when referring to sales and marketing, we are talking about activities and processes that go into converting a sale. Sales and marketing activities can be further broken into inbound and outbound, which have been characterized as pull and push marketing, respectively.

Inbound marketing involves the activities and processes that pull prospects to you, usually through your website. It can be summed up as a process of attracting, nur turing, and converting leads. This is more passive as you are not reaching out directly to a specific person. You are targeting a persona, i.e., a semi-fictional representation of your target customer, with specific strategies to encourage people fitting this persona to contact you. Your inbound mar keting strategy will include search engine optimization (SEO) of your website and content, social media, and tactics that help a prospect who needs corrugated products find your relevant content.

Outbound marketing includes activities and processes that push information to your prospects—phone calls, voicemails, emails, direct mail, etc. These are typically directed at specific individuals. Outbound

marketing can be used in parallel with inbound (i.e., reaching out to individuals or companies that fit your target profile), but it also complements it. Once marketing leads come in through your website, you need outbound activities to convert them to sales-qualified leads and then to a sale. This article will not go into outbound marketing too deeply, other than to iterate the impor tance of following up with inbound leads.

Importance of Inbound Marketing

When done correctly and used as a com ponent of an overall marketing strategy, inbound marketing is an effective method for increasing your lead flow. Inbound marketing reaches audiences interested in the types of products you sell.

There are several stages in a buyer’s journey—awareness, consideration, and decision. As prospects search the internet for solutions (awareness), they are more likely to find you if you have implemented current best-practice inbound marketing strategies. This can be done with content on your site or off-site, for example, through social media. As they acquire more information from several vendors and learn what each offers (consideration), your content that explains your compet itive advantage and addresses their pains can help lead them to a decision. Inbound marketing is used to reach prospects at each stage of the buyer’s journey.

Elements of an Effective Inbound Marketing Strategy

It is important to note that inbound mar keting is not a set-it-and-forget-it method for generating leads. The buyer’s journey is evidence that a strong web presence is vital. However, building a flashy new website and walking away are not enough

to keep a flow of relevant leads coming to your website. The following several ways buyers can land on your site must be considered when developing your strategy:

• A direct search is when they enter your URL directly into the browser.

• A referral is when they arrive at your site from a backlink, which is when another site, like a trade show page, links to your site.

• An organic search is when they use a search engine, type in keywords (such as “cardboard boxes in Wisconsin”), and click on one of your webpages that appear in the results. Remember, people don’t always know the correct terminology, and as painful as it might be, your content should use the terms people use in their searches.

• Other types include social, pay-perclick (paid links), and email links.

Encouraging buyers to come to your site is achieved through SEO. This means optimizing your website and content for search engines, such as Google, to find your content, trust your content, and deliver it as a top result. This doesn’t hap pen overnight and takes continual work.

As a side note, we talk about Google instead of some of the lesser search engines because Google has 83% of the global market, according to Statistica. Google has begun prioritizing content quality related to search queries, so the changes made to your site based on its recommen dations will likely enhance results on other search engines, such as Bing and Yahoo.

Updating Content Is Key

You first need a strong website, which includes being optimized for load speed, URL structure, site hierarchy, images,

mobile use, and other technical factors. After that, the No. 1 element of a good SEO strategy is consistently updating your website content by following best practices for SEO. Updating content lets Google know the page is still relevant and helps it to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).

A good exercise is to put your company name into a search engine and see where your company appears in the results. Then, enter the top four or five products or services you think people would search for when looking for a vendor like you. This will allow you to see how other companies are ranking and allow you to reverse-engineer it.

When a search engine crawls sites looking for information to answer a searcher’s question, such as “corrugated manufacturer near me,” it goes through a hierarchy of steps to fi nd an answer. It will look at the core site and URL structure of that site. If the URL doesn’t have the word “corrugated” in it, Google will stop looking. If it has “corrugated” in the URL, it will look at page headings, content, and pictures to ensure the content on the page is about corrugated.

Website Pages for Product, Services, and Locations Served

As your product or service offerings change (i.e., equipment, certifications, etc.), pages should be updated. Each product or service you want to be found through Google or other search engines should have its own page. Just mentioning it on your homepage is not enough for a search engine to deliver it as a search result. Your pages should contain information that people are looking for. If sustainability is something prospects want, have a page dedicated to sustainability. An excellent way to determine the content and pages for your site is to look at the questions your salespeople get. Does your website answer those questions? Does each question have its own page? An FAQ page is good, but having a page that answers each question is better.

Pages for locations served are also important. When someone searches, Google’s default is to search within their area. We are familiar with this for B2C searches. If you enter the term “steakhouse” into a Google search page, your top results will be steakhouses in your area. The same is true for B2B. Having a Google map on your website of the area you serve helps with search results.

There is no limit to the number of pages a site can have. You don’t have to put them all up at once. At a minimum, your website should have four to six pages that cover core offerings and major areas served. You can then build on those, adding more as you learn what prospects are searching for. Single-page websites are not recommended for successful SEO.

Off-Site Strategies to Drive Traffic

Putting up blog posts around keywords (terms people search for) is a common strategy, but updating your off-site SEO, such as your Google Business Profi le, is just as important. When people conduct a search using “near me” or put in a geographical location, having a listing helps you to be found. Updating social sites, such as LinkedIn, with links to your site can help your page to appear in a SERP and encourages people to click through to your site from the post.

Backlinks also can impact your SEO. In recent years, Google’s algorithm has shifted from emphasizing backlinks to emphasizing relevant and informative content; however, they are still the foundation of Google’s original PageRank algorithm. Th is is because if other sites are linking to your site, it establishes your site’s authority. With this said, it is better to first concentrate on having a good website and content.

Increasing Conversion Rates

If you have ample traffic landing on your site but you are not getting the conversions you need (people contacting you), it is time for conversion rate optimization.

Th is is achieved through the following content enhancements:

• Ensure your site is user-friendly. Can users quickly get the information they need? Do you have appropriate links to other information available? Are links to case studies available that provide testimony that you can do what you say you can do?

• Provide content that reflects what people are searching for and has a high readability level. Readability is how easy it is for someone to read and understand what is written on your website.

• Have a clear call to action. Tell people what you want them to do.

• Minimize form fields. Some people are turned off by having to fill out a long form. You can ask for additional information when you follow up with them.

• Conduct A/B testing. Th is is where you create two versions to compare against each other to see which performs better.

Inbound Marketing Is an Ongoing Process

The most important thing to remember is that your inbound marketing strategy should be an ongoing process. Be consistent and patient with your SEO efforts. It takes time for pages to start ranking in Google searches. As you evaluate your site’s performance data, you may find it necessary to make changes and reoptimize. 

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

It’s time to revolutionize

The new ChromaCUT X Pro rotary die-cutter pushes what is possible

The ChromaCUT X Pro is designed for high-performance rotary production of die-cut corrugated products with ultimate flexo post-printing quality. You will achieve paramount performance from the latest embedded technology with a brand new operating concept. It is available with the industry's shortest lead time from our factory to your floor. The ChromaCUT X Pro has a maximum production output of 12,000 boards per hour, including setup while running, integrated remote maintenance for the ultimate uptime, and the easiest machine to operate – the ChromaCUT X Pro will increase your profitability.

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(+1) 502 310-1368

tom.fitzgerald@koenig-bauer.com koenig-bauer.com

Scrolling Your Way to Packaging Success

BY JULIE RICE-SUGGS, PH.D., AND ALLI KEIGLEY

How many of you, after a long day at work, find yourself reaching for the phone to catch up on all your social media feeds? You fix a snack, put your feet up, and start the endless scrolling—or at least as much as you can get to before someone asks when supper is going to be ready.

We sure do! Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Reddit, or LinkedIn, there’s a lot to choose from for updates on Aunt Carol’s garden, the new job your second cousin once removed just got, or your sports team’s daily stats. So, believe us when we say we understand any resistance to adding yet another app to the mix when there are already too many to keep up with.

However, we do think you need to get one more: TikTok. While TikTok has been around since 2016, it forged a strong presence in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to slow down, with more than 1 billion users and 200 million downloads in the United States alone. We know that doesn’t mean you need it, but keep reading.

For those new to the TikTok world— we’re just now getting caught up—it’s a social media platform that fi rst made its mark with video content of catchy dance choreography and lip-sync routines. However, the platform has evolved to include other forms of content such as comedy, baking, food, sports, motion graphics, DIY, animals, facial treatments, and many more.

Wanting to move beyond strictly entertainment purposes, TikTok partnered with creators across their platforms to form the #LearnOnTikTok campaign, which highlights the app’s most exciting and unexpected features. Alongside its own creators and organizations, TikTok

collaborates with notable experts in their fields, such as Bill Nye, to bring informative and inspirational content to its billions of users.

Now, we’ve got you up to speed on the ins and outs of the TikTok world, but you’re probably still wondering what this has to do with the packaging world. Interestingly enough, TikTok has taken the marketing and advertising world by storm—completely changing the way brands and organizations share content with their target audiences. Because TikTok is an easily adopted tool, businesses and organizations have begun using it in a variety of ways to interact with their customers in a laid-back, less commercial approach, such as participating in TikTok challenges, posting about their locations with captions and hashtags, and using branded effects (e.g., games, stickers, filters, special effects) to offer a more engaging experience.

Never one to miss out on an exciting marketing opportunity, The Packaging School (TPS) recently jumped on board. We started a TikTok account a few months ago to raise awareness of our online packaging courses and certificate programs. As of now, we have 174 videos on the platform proclaiming the awesomeness of packaging through 15-second video clips. And we’re already seeing some great traction.

To take things a step further, we partnered with Cory Connors, sustainable packaging consultant at Landsberg Orora in Portland, Oregon, to create a superb course introducing packaging professionals to TikTok. Connors has been in the packaging industry for 25 years, and his focus is on helping companies become more sustainable with their packaging. Working in a Weyerhaeuser corrugated production facility helped Connors pay his way through college

while helping him understand the nuances of corrugated in the sustainability sector. He is the host of a sustainable packaging podcast in which he chats with industry leaders about sustainable packaging options, new products, and ways we can each make a difference in packaging sustainability. His TikTok account, @corygated, has more than 75,700 followers, 1.7 million likes, and more than 1,500 videos.

Working as a subject matter expert and instructor with TPS, Connors helped us build an engaging course on the importance of social media in the packaging space— specifically, how TikTok can be used to level up your packaging organization and how to create impactful videos for your audience. The course is about an hour long and is broken up into bite-size lessons that can be engaged with on any device, anywhere, anytime—catering to adult learning styles and their busy schedules. An added bonus—the course sells for only $49, making it light on your wallet, too!

What’s holding you back from joining the TikTok revolution? Take the leap, and if you don’t know where to start, check out this amazing course today at bit. ly/3CLvKCU. 

Julie Rice Suggs, Ph.D., is academic director at The Packaging School. She can be reached at 330-774-8542 or julie@ packagingschool.com

Alli Keigley is production coordinator at The Packaging School. She can be reached at alli@ packagingschool.com

Bench Strength

BY SCOTT ELLIS, ED.D.

Do you feel like Moses? We are told the pharaoh demanded that his workforce increase production while disrupting their supply of materials, telling them to make more bricks and to gather their own straw supply. If you feel similarly maltreated by staffing challenges, supply chain issues, and the rising cost of goods over the past few years, I have two suggestions.

First, with all due respect, get a grip because all those challenges came during a time of profitability for the packaging industry. Also, most boxmakers are better employers and manufacturers for having overcome those obstacles. The second suggestion is that you make a priority to deepen your company’s bench strength.

Employment numbers indicate that manufacturing will need to continue getting the work done with fewer workers. Our solutions, therefore, need to contain value for the workers we desire to attract and retain, while increasing our ability to meet customer demand with safe, fast, quality service. The solution is crosstraining, but that is the answer you find in the back of the book. The more important part is how to get there, so as my algebra teacher required, I will show my work.

The first step is to take an inventory of the skill sets of the current staff. I will focus on machine centers and give an example below of the application to administrative areas. To get a baseline, gather production management to set your criteria for the levels of capability. Those levels could be labeled “No Training,” “Trainee,” “Assistant Operator,” “Operator,” and “Trainer.” A resource available for this purpose, Cross-Training, can be found on Packaging University. Establish objective criteria for the

knowledge base and demonstration of ability to move from trainee to assistant and so on. Next, set a goal for the number of qualified people on each key machine center. Finally, your team should discuss possible motivations for an individual to be trained on multiple machines.

Production managers have found that many team members are motivated by an unspoken competition. When a training matrix is posted, operators of single machines will see that some co-workers are qualified on multiple processes, and some will find that motivation enough to cross-train. There is not a one-size-fits-all template for how this works in your company culture. Some companies pay for performance, meaning that when team members operate different machine centers, they clock in for pay at that machine’s rate. Other companies pay for knowledge, giving a pay differential as an operator qualifies on multiple processes.

In any case, qualifying as a trainer should receive the highest recognition. It

would not be unusual for a multi-machine operator to question their placement as operator but not trainer. One such interaction was a catalyst for change in a “magician,” which is my term for a skilled operator who does not show their work. The operator scanned the chart and asked why they did not receive the highest rating, saying, “I can train.” The response they received was, “Yes, I am sure you can, but you don’t.” It was a turning point for this skilled operator who had previously thought there was job security in holding onto knowledge.

Once the criteria for the objective ranking of capability is set and the current bench strength is known, you will decide if the best fit for your culture would be publicly posting the information or for private use by super visors for staffing (and human resources if pay is impacted).

For those who would like to take it further, the Training Tracking Tool, also on Packaging University, can be utilized to monitor the training of individuals,

completion of courses, awareness of procedures, etc. One can also track by procedure, by department, or by company. Th is is an Excel-based resource for companies that do not have their own learning management system to plan and track up to 25 processes across as many as eight departments. It would be well suited for operator certification, as well as providing a training record ISO for state compliance.

The value of cross-training is most visible when production staffi ng is proficient and flexible. There is also a benefit in qualifying and tracking skill levels in maintenance. Consider that a potential customer might be won more easily if various types of sales were ranked and the appropriate expert were to attend certain sales calls. There will be

considerably more comfort in covering for a fellow customer service representative if there is a proactive effort to share specific requirements, contacts, and the status of current orders. It may start with a strategy as simple as allowing a trainee to move through the levels of order complexity (e.g., repeat, repeat with change, new box order, new kit or display order). These tools have led most to create a separate track for preparation of supervisors and managers.

When cross-training is done well, we invest in team members to increase their capability, and their engagement increases accordingly. There is no busload of willing and capable employees being delivered, so we need to be more productive with fewer people. Most who receive a wage that corresponds with

their value to the company, who receive training and encouragement to communicate, who are asked to participate in process improvement, and who are given clear requirements will rise to the occasion.

Scott Ellis, Ed.D., delivers training, coaching, and resources that develop the ability to eliminate obstacles and sustain more eff ective and profi table results. He recently published Dammit: Learning Judgment Th rough Experience . His books and process improvement resources are available at workingwell.bz . AICC members enjoy a 20% discount with code AICC21.

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Awards and Recognition So Many Chances to Be Recognized and Rewarded

AICC members have many ways to receive recognition for their achievements. Check out all of the ways your company can shine.

Packaging Design Competitions

The AICC Independent Packaging Design Competition features corrugated, folding carton, and rigid box categories, providing a wider reach into the entire packaging market and a greater diversity of ideas. Every four years, AICC’s Package Design Competition and TAPPI’s CorrPak Competition join forces for the Box Manufacturing Olympics.

Independent Safe Shop

The Independent Safe Shop awards recognize AICC member companies for outstanding performance in plant safety over the past year.

Innovator of the Year

The AICC and Board Converting News Innovator of the Year competition is designed to recognize innovative solutions

created by both AICC box plant and supplier members that enhance the efficiencies, productivity, product quality, and bottom-line profitability of the independent box plant. An Innovator of the Year is awarded every year in the fall in four rotating categories:

• Boxmakers

• Non-Machinery

• Machinery

• Information Technology and Training

AICC Champion Award

AICC created the AICC Champion Award, which will be given annually to recognize AICC members that have made outstanding contributions in furthering the Association’s membership. These efforts can include recruiting new members, retaining members who may need encouragement to maintain their membership, or contributing to helping member companies increase their engagement levels with the Association.

Member Milestone Recognition Program

AICC, through the Member Milestone program, recognizes member companies that, in the current calendar year, are celebrating significant membership anniversaries. Recognition is given each year during the AICC Spring Meeting. Learn more about AICC’s awards and competitions at www.AICCbox.org/ competitions. 

Work-Life Balance

A Leap of Faith

BY REBECCA RENDON

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose? My answer to that question comes with no hesitation: Hawaii. The warm, tropical waters; soft sand; picturesque mountain ranges; and the aloha spirit are unlike anything else. As I’m writing this, I’m sitting on Lanikai Beach in Kailua on the windward side of Oahu. You may be thinking, “What is she doing writing this while she’s on vacation?”

Well, I decided to take a leap of faith and move to Hawaii with my 9-year-old daughter, Kennedy, for one year of adventure. Th is wasn’t a rash decision, rather something that had a great deal of meaning and purpose behind it, which continues to evolve every day.

The fi rst question people ask me when they hear this is “Why?” As a single mother who loves to travel with her daughter and works remotely, the question for me becomes “Why not?”

Obviously, there were plenty of legitimate reasons for not packing up and moving 4,500 miles away to the middle of the Pacific. We already had a comfortable, established life in Carmel, Indiana. We had just moved into a new house, with a big yard for our dog, and Kennedy was enrolled in a top-rated elementary school. Our friends and my mother lived nearby, and that was the place I called home for the past 25 years. What more could we want? Everything was comfortable and stable— except the Indiana weather. So, why not move to a place with daily rainbows and consistently sunny, 80-degree weather?

The decision to move was based off more than just unfavorable Indiana weather. I had this feeling deep in my

heart that there was more to life than settling for comfort and familiarity. I couldn’t help but feel like I was complacently accepting a life based on social norms and familial expectations, rather than a passionate pursuit of adventure and unchartered opportunity. At 33 years old, some people might call this a “pre-midlife crisis.” Call it what you will. I saw this as an opportunity to be brave, pursue a dream, and provide my daughter with some incredible childhood memories. So, why not take this leap of faith?

We had visited Hawaii eight months prior and fallen in love with the beauty of the land and the Hawaiian culture. However, this idea seemed like such a far-fetched dream that it posed a massive challenge. Th ankfully, I love a challenge.

Dreams are just goals without a plan, though, right? During the next month, I’d spend most evenings in deep thought, weighing the amount of effort and sacrifice required to make this happen versus the potential reward. This was also going to require a considerable amount of logistical planning—asking my boss for his support, deciding what to do with my house and car, transferring schools, getting our dog into Hawaii, telling friends and family, and actually making the 4,500-mile move to the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

If it’s meant to be, it will be. But it can never be if you don’t attempt it. Kennedy was excited and 100% on board. We’d move with our dog to the most remote chain of islands in the world, where we don’t know a soul, because why not? Th is would be a year of adventure, personal growth, and the ultimate test of faith and our own limits.

My goal was to provide us with an opportunity to embrace diversity, develop an appreciation for another culture, do good for the planet, and experience things that wouldn’t be possible in the confi nes of Carmel, Indiana.

After my boss at Kolbus gave his blessing, I started laying out a plan of action. I researched everything—best schools, safe areas to live, special Hawaii laws, etc. I felt confident in my plan, knowing that my daughter and I are resilient and could make it work for a year, in hopes of experiencing something wildly exciting and life-changing.

I decided to leave everything behind. We’d move with two suitcases each, bringing what is essential. There’d be no room for excess. We’d be forced to evaluate what was most important to us. I sold my 4-monthold car and moved my mother into my house in Carmel for a year so we could keep our things just as they are in Indiana and return home if needed. As a single mother, I had to be logical and have a backup plan. We visited Oahu for three weeks in May, with the goal of finding a place to live, buying a new car, and enrolling my

Rendon explores Black Sand Beach in Maui this past July.

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Rendon.

daughter in school. Check. Check. Check. We flew home for two weeks to get our dog, say goodbye to friends, and pack our suitcases.

On July 4, we embarked on this life-changing year. I vividly remember walking out of the Honolulu airport that day, apprehensively thinking to myself, “Oh wow, we’re actually doing this!” Reality was finally hitting me. I loaded up the car, sat there for a few minutes while I cried some anxious tears, and proceeded to drive to our new home in Kailua.

As I write this, we’re in our 11th week as Hawaii residents. We are soaking up the sunshine and aloha every day and have realized how little we actually need in order to be happy.

Life during the weekdays is pretty “nor mal.” Due to the time difference, I wake up early, often at 3 or 4 a.m., for business meetings with colleagues in Germany and the United Kingdom. I take my daughter to school and then wrap up my workday midafternoon. Kennedy is adjusting well and is loving “island life.” She joined the swim team and has quickly developed a love for surfing and all ocean-related activities.

We are assimilating to life in Hawaii and are making the most of every day here. There are still hard days when I miss friends and family, good Mexican food, or the comforts of home. However, those sad feelings are short-lived when I step into the warm, tropical water of Waikiki Beach to surf with my daughter, or when we come across a sea turtle or Hawaiian monk seal basking on the beach.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned so far: Be brave and take that leap of faith because there’s a chance it could turn out better than you could have ever imagined. 

Rebecca Rendon is marketing and communica tions manager at Kolbus America Inc. She can be reached at rebecca. rendon@kolbus.com

Arvco: The ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of the Corrugated Industry

BY STEVE YOUNG

George B. Arvanigian founded Arvco Container Corp. in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1967. But his journey was not a typical entrepreneur’s path into the corrugated box business. “My dad was kind of a unicorn in the industry,” says Greg Arvanigian, president and CEO. “He’s one of the few production guys that started his own business.”

‘He

Wanted His Own Thing’

George’s career path in the production side of the business began in the early 1960s in Worcester, Massachusetts, with Dowd Box. From there, he was recruited by Inland Container to run its Philadelphia plant. He eventually caught the attention of International Paper (IP), which was rapidly expanding its corrugated box operations in the 1960s in the South and Midwest. He was offered the position of production manager at IP’s Howell, Michigan, plant, eventually joining one

of his sheet customers, Grand Rapids Packaging, and its subsidiary Wolverine Packaging in Schoolcraft, Michigan, as vice president and general manager. Like many in the box industry at that time, the elder Arvanigian recognized the growing volume of available corrugated business signaled a great opportunity.

“He was at Wolverine [Packaging] about three years and got tight with a couple of sales guys and met a local banker,” Greg recalls. “He just wanted his own thing; he wanted to make corrugated boxes. That was in 1971.”

The company’s fi rst location in Kalamazoo had two Langston letterpress printer slotters, a slitter, bandsaw, and taper. In 1975, after another move to its current location near downtown Kalamazoo, George acquired a used Hooper-Swift 78" corrugator. He also opened a sheet plant in Warsaw, Indiana, in 1974 and a sheet plant in Northwood,

COMPANY: Arvco Container Corp.

ESTABLISHED : 1967

JOINED AICC : 1974 PHONE : 269-381-0900

WEBSITE : www.arvco.com

HEADQUARTERS : Kalamazoo, Michigan

PRESIDENT AND CEO : Greg Arvanigian

Ohio, near Toledo, in 1978. Following the bankruptcy of Grand Rapids Packaging in 1980, Arvco picked up a number of Grand Rapids Packaging’s salespeople, expanding its market reach north and leading to the opening of a sheet plant in Cadillac, Michigan, in 1982. The following year, Arvco moved its Northwood plant to Delta, Ohio, and added a corrugator, a move that Greg admits was not the best one for the company. “We didn’t invest enough in the plant to keep it economically viable,” he says.

In the meantime, though, Arvco was investing heavily in its Kalamazoo facility, adding a second corrugator—an 87"—and new Hycorr (now Kolbus) rotary die cutters. Then in 1989, George passed away. Greg, at age 28, became president of the company. Reflecting on the transition he had to lead at that time, Greg says, “as As happens with a lot of entrepreneurial guys

Photos courtesy of Arvco Container Corp.

Arvco President and CEO Greg Arvanigian and Maintenance Manager Chad Hawkins at the company’s Kalamazoo plant.

Arvanigian standing aside Arvco’s J&L 150" folder gluer.

that start businesses, the business grows and outgrows their ability to run it the way they want to run it.

Greg’s first task, as he described it, was to huddle with the company’s management team. “I called all the managers, and I say, ‘Guys, I’ve got a revelation for you: You’re managers; I expect you to manage. "I can’t do it the way my dad did,’” he says.

Greg taking the reins of the business in 1989 began a period of refocusing Arvco’s mission. The company’s capital equipment was aging, and the customer base—which was at that point largely automotive and consumer appliances—was also shifting. Arvco’s plant in Warsaw, which was built, in part, to serve the Whirlpool parts business in LaPorte, was hobbled by extensive capital equipment needs Greg in his new position could not immediately justify. “The big thing we looked at was our business mix at the Warsaw plant,” he remembers. “We did a lot of folding and gluing down there. Our biggest customer was Whirlpool for their parts boxes, and most of the other business we were running in Kalamazoo anyway. And Warsaw, 73 miles away, is not that far. So, we made the difficult decision to close that plant and put all our money back into the mother ship.”

‘Invert the Bell Curve’

The consolidation of Arvco’s production assets and the reinvestment in capital equipment began in earnest in 1994 with the retirement of its older 78" and 87" corrugating capacity and the acquisition and installation of its 98" Agnati/Fosber corrugator. “I say, ‘We’re going all-in, and we’re going to put in a new corrugator,’” Greg says. “It was the best thing we could have ever done.”

Arvco’s corrugator capacity serves a broad waterfront, with flute profiles A, B, C, E, F, and K in single-face and single-, double-, and triple-wall board. As Greg explains it, Arvco’s business mix at the time was heavyweight-based, with triple-wall applications and heavier containerboard grades. But its

broadening reach into the food and beverage business—Arvco manufactures 265 food packaging items and holds 10 food-related patents—required a machine with flexibility in emerging microflutes like E and F. “We were already in the food business, and so I needed a corrugator that could make triple-wall as well as lighter-weight microflutes,” he says. “The Europeans had a lot of experience with microflutes, so it’s one of the reasons I was steering toward Agnati.”

The company’s converting and fi nishing capabilities have mirrored the flexibility and diversity of the 98" corrugator. Arvco’s Kalamazoo plant maintains an impressive large-box and triple-wall capacity in its jumbo Flexoline 86" x 212", two-color flexo folder gluer, and its J&L 150" specialty folder gluer.

The company also maintains a stable of equipment suitable to the industrial box market, with its Langston Saturn III threecolor mini flexo and its Post 84" specialty folder gluer. In between is a complement of workhorse machines: Ward and Hycorr (Kolbus) rotary die cutters as well as enhanced-graphics rotary die cutters in Arvco’s two Apstar 66" x 110" four-color and its Hycorr 66" x 85" four-color. In Cadillac, a similar machine footprint can be seen in its Langston 50" two-color flexo folder gluer, Ward 66" x 85" two-color die cutter, and Hycorr 66" x 85" three-color rotary die cutters. Rounding out the equipment mix are a Göpfert MAXI boxmaker, a Bahmüller stitcher, and a DPI three-color digital printer.

About Arvco’s broad business mix, Greg says, “We want to sell the stuff that nobody else wants to sell. If you were to look at our mix, take the bell curve of the corrugated industry where ultralightweight is on one end and super heavy triple-wall is on the other end. Invert that bell curve, and you have an Arvco.

“When it comes to doing something with a corrugated box,” he adds, “we do more stuff on-site than anybody else in the world. I don’t know anybody else that

does what we do. And we’re constantly trying to move that along.”

Trying to move that along requires continual investment, and Kyle Baldwin, Arvco’s chief fi nancial officer (CFO), attributes the company’s success at procuring the right equipment to Greg’s gut feel for what will work. Says Baldwin, “He defi nitely has more of that entrepreneurial spirit when it comes to capital expenditures and investments.”

“I make educated guesses,” counters Greg. Greg’s “educated guesses” serve a unique but evolving mix of business. The company’s market has ebbed and flowed through an eclectic mix of government, automotive and industrial, and food and beverage. “We’re very diversified,” he says. “We actually do a fair number of government contract boxes like weather resistant, Class-2 triple-wall, etc. We’ve always done government work.”

Arvco is also a principal player in the pizza box business, a piece of the market brought to the company in the 1970s by Steve France, one of the company’s sales representatives at the time. Today, that business represents 45% of Arvco’s production. “Steve basically focused on selling pizza boxes,” Greg recalls. “He went out and bought cutting dies. We did a couple of marketing pieces, and we trademarked the name, ‘Pizza-tainer.’”

As Greg explains, Arvco’s focus on the food business balanced the highs and lows of industrial and automotive sectors.

“The food business—it’s a hedge,” he says. “When the economy changes, the food business gets good when the industrial business doesn’t. People realize they can feed a family of four for $20 when they order a pizza. Where else can you do that? So, that helps us get through a lot of these downturns.”

Arvco’s specialization in pizza has expanded into other styles of convenience packaging for other kinds of fast-food outlets selling chicken and sandwiches. Giving one specific example, Greg described the on-site packaging space savings they

achieved for Subway by transitioning from E flute to F, allowing twice as many packaging units to be held in-store.

People, Family

Like many an independent, Arvco has a family feel to any visitor touring the plant. The company employs around 220 people full time. Citing longtime employees who have been with the company 20, 30, or 40-plus years, Greg says, “We treat people like people. It’s a culture thing. We treat people with respect; we treat people well.”

Arvco has had its share of difficulty finding good employees, just as others in the industry. But the company also takes pride in not laying off employees for economic reasons. “I have never economically laid anyone off in the 30 years I’ve been here,” Greg says. “My job is to make sure they’ve got something to do, so we don’t believe in layoffs. It’s one of the advantages we have.”

To attract and keep the valuable employees it has, Greg is studying a pilot project to pay for an associate degree at a local community college. “I was talking to one of my customer service reps the other day, and she has a son who just graduated from high school,” he says. “He can’t afford to go to college, so he’s going to get a job for a while and try to save money for college. I thought, ‘There must be a lot of kids in that boat. What if we offer to pay for an associate degree at community college if they come to work here?’”

Greg sees this as an answer to the aging of his workforce and the need to attract younger, more motivated workers. Says Greg, “I think the talent level will get better because you’re going to be attracting people who are aspiring to go to college and better themselves.”

Team for the Future

If the workers at Arvco feel like family, imagine how family at Arvco feels like family. As the second generation of Arvco ownership, Greg has followed his father’s model of bringing in his sons to the business.

Nicholas Arvanigian, Greg’s younger son, is a sales representative for the company. Alex Arvanigian is vice president of operations, a position he has held since 2018. Says Greg, “When Alex was a kid, he played competitive hockey at a pretty high level, and I used to tell everyone, ‘Alex is the guy you want on the ice at the end of a 1–0 game.’ He’s cool under pressure; he doesn’t get fazed. Th at’s a really good trait to have in our business.”

Alex’s view of the business is on the production floor and the issues converters face there each day. “I oversee production between here and Cadillac, shipping, maintenance, all of it,” he says. “The biggest challenge now is fi nding ways to get more out with fewer people—fi nding ways to automate simple processes.”

Asked if he had any advice for younger managers, Alex simply says, “Expose yourself in different areas of the business, because it all works together. Corrugated is kind of a life sentence. It’s a really good business to be in.”

Baldwin, from his position as CFO, considers his most important job to be the company’s relationship with its bankers. Though not a family member, he spent 10 years in commercial banking, serving as Arvco’s banker for five of those before Greg lured him away in the fall of 2008, just before the financial crisis. “I started, and a week or two later, Lehman Brothers fi les for bankruptcy,” he says. “That’s really when shockwaves got sent through the monetary system. It was a trial by fire.”

Baldwin, through his banking experience, has positioned Arvco for future investment and expansion. “Traditionally, a lot of CFOs come through the CPA path; I came through commercial banking,” he says. “Today, it’s all about how we can maximize borrowing capabilities to fund some of these projects for improvements and capital investment.”

Rounding out the management team is Bob Ford, vice president of sales. Ford’s been a member of the Arvco team for 17 years.

Arvco is a truly independent corrugator— one with no mill ownership or sheet feeder affiliation. Of course, it’s a subject about which Greg has much to say. “It’s tough to be an independent corrugator, which is why we do the stuff we do,” he says, explaining that the advent of sheet feeders over the years has benefited the sheet plant sector greatly.

In fact, Greg says, Arvco itself has taken advantage of the shift in economics: “My dad used to say, ‘If I can’t put it on my corrugator and make money, I’m not going to take the business.’ I say, ‘If I can’t put it on my corrugator and make money, can I buy sheets and make money, or buy finished boxes and make money?’”

Arvco’s long history as an independent in the industry of course includes its years of involvement in the industry’s associations, particularly AICC. George was a founding member in 1974; he served as the Association’s president in 1979–1980 and was named to its Hall of Fame in 1985. Greg, for his part, served as chairman of the Association in 2001–2002, the first son of a past president to do so. Greg was named to the Association’s Hall of Fame in 2008, and he serves on TAPPI’s Corrugated Packaging Council and now on the board of directors of the Fibre Box Association. Alex has begun involvement in AICC’s Emerging Leaders program and TAPPI’s Young Professionals.

Greg calls Arvco, for the breadth of its product lines, the flexibility of its service, and the state of its technology, the “Swiss Army knife of the corrugated box business.” Always forward-looking, always, in his words, “not following the rules,” he continues to build an innovative and cutting-edge company in a changing and competitive business. 

Steve Young is AICC’s ambassador-at-large. He can be reached at 202-297-0583 or syoung@ aiccbox.org.

By Geoff Williams

The past few years have been an adventure for anyone working in the paper-based packaging industry—and for most people on the planet. After all, 2020 may have been the year that vaulted the world into the COVID19 pandemic, but 2021 and 2022 have respectively brought their own challenges. Supply chain issues, the labor shortage, and inflation have been at the forefront of everybody’s minds. And it isn’t as if these issues have simply gone away.

Great challenges require great leaders, and once again, AICC is fortunate to have one at the helm: Jana Harris, who with her education, charm, and life and career experience, is—as they say—the whole package.

Harris, who as many of you know speaks with a slight Texas twang, is a second-generation business owner. She is CEO of Harris Packaging Corp. and American Carton Co.

Her parents, Joe and Joyce, started Harris Packaging in 1976. Joe had been working in the industry for almost a decade when he and his wife opened their own sheet plant in Haltom City, a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth. Joyce died far too young—in 1991—and the following year, Joe expanded the company and started American Carton in nearby Mansfield. He figured his customers who were buying folding cartons from him would likely also purchase corrugated boxes.

Harris grew up impressed with what she was seeing, and she wanted to be a part of it all. As a teenager, she told her father she wanted to work for the family business, but he wasn’t too keen on the idea.

“I remember as a teenager telling my father that I wanted to be a salesperson for Harris Packaging,” Harris told the Dallas Business Journal in 2014. “I will never forget him saying that no daughter of his would be selling in this male-dominated industry.”

Harris majored in exercise science at the University of Texas at Arlington, graduating summa cum laude, and soon became a diagnostic lab technician. Somewhere in there, she also started and sold a business.

But by 2006, Joe had softened and invited his daughter and her sister Jenise Cox to join the companies. Neither needed any convincing. Before long, by day, Harris was wearing numerous hats in customer service, purchasing, scheduling, and, yes, sales. And by night, she was raising two daughters.

Th ree years later, the two sisters were majority owners in the company, and profits continued to rise. Their staff eventually doubled.

BoxScore caught up with Harris before she headed out to Corrugated Week in San Antonio to discuss what she hopes to accomplish while overseeing AICC—and how she got into the Association in the fi rst place.

As AICC looks toward the future, its new leader is poised to realize opportunity through challenges

Photos courtesy of Carey Stinson Photography.

BoxScore : So, you’ve been a member of AICC for a long time. When did that begin?

Harris: Joe asked us to work for him in 2006. I started working in customer service, and my sister has always been on the financial end. We didn’t know much about the industry, and he highly recommended that we attend the meetings. We went to regional and national meetings as well, and I really enjoyed everything about it. I always felt that we walked away learning a lot, and we always walked out of those meetings smarter than we were. And we’re really happy that our children are now active in AICC as well.

BoxScore: And so, you’ve just climbed up the ranks at AICC as the years went on?

Harris: Well, I was asked to speak at one of the national meetings, and then-President Steve Young (currently ambassador-at-large for AICC) said I should be on the board. So, I joined the board in 2011 as a regional director. I stayed in that position for a while, and

then I became the education committee chair for a handful of years, until I took over the budget committee, which is the thing you do before you become the chair. So, yes, I’ve been very involved.

BoxScore : How has AICC changed since you’ve been involved with the organization? Granted, that was 2006 and not all that long ago.

Harris: I would say when Jenise and I went to the meetings, we often felt like we were some of the only ladies there. And so that’s been a nice change over the years, especially with the Emerging Leader (EL) program. The meetings seem to be more half-and-half these days, and I’ve been very encouraged by that. And there are more ladies on the board as well. I’ve defi nitely noticed that change.

BoxScore : Can you give some examples of how AICC has helped you over the years?

Harris: The friendships that we’ve made have been priceless. Not only do

I have some very close friends, where I can pick up the phone and talk to them at any time, they also have such great advice. And I know Jenise—she is in a CEO group—is often reaching out to them. We’ve gotten a lot of advice about running a family business with multiple generations, and that’s an issue that’s very important to us. I always think that our friends at AICC, they often challenge you to be the best you can be and to think bigger than what you even might be considering.

Forging Forward Through Ups and Downs

Indeed, Harris and Cox’s companies have been extremely successful since they took over—with accolades continually coming. In 2012, Harris Packaging and American Carton were selected the 2012 Small Business of the Year by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.

In 2019, Harris had become such a pillar of the community that she was invited to throw out the ceremonial fi rst pitch at a Major League Baseball game, before the Texas Rangers played the Tampa Bay Rays. (She reportedly acquitted herself well, but she said later that her pitch was high and a little to the right.)

Th is past year, the University of Texas at Arlington honored its 100 fastest-growing maverick-owned businesses at a business event, ranking Harris Packaging at No. 17 and American Carton at No. 19.

From a business perspective, Harris and Cox have been a marvel. The two even became

Harris’ connection to Harris Packaging and American Carton employees has helped lead the companies forward with great success.

silent partners in an Italian restaurant in Fort Worth called Tre Mogli.

“My goal is to eventually make enough money for the food I eat there,” Harris says. The food presumably goes well with wine. Her husband, Zachary Campbell, recently became a silent partner in a winery—Sanglier Cellars—in Sonoma County, California.

In other words, Harris’ life has been very successful and quite an adventure with her being involved in a lot of businesses and

industries. And she has been excited about her daughter, Jordan Dawson, who works in customer service and purchasing at Harris Packaging and recently became an AICC EL freshman delegate.

But as good as things have been, 2022 has been a brutal year for the Harris family. On July 29, 2022, Harris’ youngest daughter, Taylor Dawson, who had health issues for several years, passed away. “I almost decided to step down,” Harris admits, saying she wasn’t sure she was

up to the task of being the chairwoman for AICC.

It would have been understandable had Harris done just that. But ultimately, she decided that traveling the country, meeting with members, being active, staying involved, and being in a leadership role with the Association might be just what she needed.

Let’s get back to our discussion.

BoxScore : What advice would you give someone who may be a member of AICC but isn’t really very involved?

Harris: You get out of the experience what you put into it. If you open yourself up to getting involved, whether joining a board or getting on a committee, and you don’t have to be on the board to do the committee, I think you’re going to fi nd that it’s a fantastic experience. Once you make those relationships, the value is so great. In addition to the education and the meetings themselves, we’ve met a lot of our vendors through AICC, which has been wonderful. But it starts with going to the meetings—and talking to people. Hopefully, some people will reach out to you and make you comfortable from the start. I always try to fi nd the new person at the meetings who doesn’t seem to be connecting and to plug them in, but I know we miss a handful, for sure.

BoxScore : What are you hoping to do with AICC this year? What are some of your goals?

Harris: Well, my passion is education. Better Minds, Better Boxes is what I always say. Basically, I’m very active with our local university with their visual communication design program. I’m on the advisory board, and I volunteer to judge for competitions. We’ve got a scholarship for its packaging program. But that little bit of time investment on the campus and getting to know the dean has meant that I’ve been able to bring on

“I always think that our friends at AICC, they often challenge you to be the best you can be and to think bigger than what you even might be considering.”

AICC President Mike D’Angelo welcomed Harris as AICC’s new chairwoman at AICC/TAPPI Corrugated Week in San Antonio in September.

about 10 students as employees. They’re all excellent employees, and my passion is to get more people excited about working in packaging. We all have a problem fi nding people to get excited about our industry. When I talk to students, I usually start out saying, “Who grew up wanting to make cardboard boxes for a living?” And, of course, nobody raises their hand. But that’s why I’m out there, saying, “Hey, you can make a great career out of this.”

So, I’m starting a partnership with a local high school STEM program, and we’re trying to get the knowledge out there that we have good careers in this industry. And I’m hoping that I’ll come up with something that I can hand to AICC members, a template, where you can go knock on the door of your local high school, and then you can do what we did. Th at’s what my hope is.

BoxScore : How receptive are students to that message, that there are interesting careers in the corrugated industry?

Harris: They’re often very interested. You know, everything comes in a box. Everything in every room has been in a box at some point. Th is career isn’t going

anywhere, and there are a lot of different career options in our industry, but kids just aren’t aware of that. I find that they’re also often interested when you talk about how sustainable this industry is. They’re very interested in working for companies that are sustainable and good stewards of the environment.

BoxScore : We’ve had the pandemic the past few years to deal with, as well as supply chain issues—and now it’s inflation. Thoughts?

Harris: Inflation has been crazy. Everything has gone up considerably and so have our prices, which doesn’t make

our customers happy. And yet, I think, like a lot of companies in the industry, it hasn’t slowed us down. We’ve been busier than we’ve ever been. It is starting to soften a little, but the last few years, we’ve grown considerably. We got to figure out what our mass capacity is. Let’s put it that way. Last year, we had to turn away some business.

BoxScore : And labor shortages. Will that continue to be an issue?

Harris: It will. And finding people to work for us, since it’s my theme, is a pretty big deal to me. It has been crazy at times, trying to keep the plant floors fi lled. We’ve had people start work, and they’ll work for half a day and then walk off.

BoxScore : Of course, that’s the case nationwide in a lot of industries.

Harris: Yeah, I’ve talked to a lot of people about that, and there are a lot of theories as to why there are labor shortages and, sometimes, a disinclination to work. But that’s why getting the next generation excited about our industry is even more imperative.

Geoff Williams is a journalist and writer based in Loveland, Ohio.

“You get out of the (AICC) experience what you put into it. If you open yourself up to getting involved, whether joining a board or getting on a committee, … I think you’re going to find that it’s a fantastic experience. Once you make those relationships, the value is so great.”

The Harris’ exemplify the commitment and care it takes to run a successful family business.

GROWING FORWARD

Looking ahead to the opportunities and obstacles of 2023

By Robert Bittner

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic—affecting everything from consumer shopping habits to the global supply chain—the past two years have been chaotic for the corrugated industry. For some, business boomed as never before. For others, particularly those focusing on in-store packaging and displays, the drop in retail traffic was devastating. Now, as the world slowly but hopefully moves into a post-pandemic phase, manufacturers are stepping back, assessing recent history, and looking ahead to how they can embrace the opportunities and address the challenges they expect to face in 2023.

Building for the Future

“I built my company with extremely hardworking, very talented, productionoriented people,” says John Potocsnak, owner of Corrugated Supplies Co. He plans to continue that trend into the new year. “Looking ahead at 2023 and beyond, I’m going to be adding a lot of brainpower. I’m building for the future.”

Potocsnak is working toward building what he calls “a deeper bench” among his leadership teams. “Each of my general managers will be getting a degreed engineer and a degreed manager,” he says. “I’m looking specifically at bringing in people who work to improve themselves. I’m trying to complement the skill sets that already exist within the company with skill sets that aren’t necessarily achieved in the street.”

While adding managers may not be surprising, adding engineers is a less common approach to business building. “I need engineers because I have a lot of factories,” Potocsnak explains. “I want engineers from a variety of disciplines—industrial engineers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers. They’re there to complement the people who got me where I am today.”

Ultimately, these new hires will expand the company’s talent base while helping to ease the workload for current employees. “What I’ve got right now are a bunch of highly motivated individuals who work way too much,” Potocsnak says. “My goal is to become a more ‘normal’ business. Ideally, I’d like to go to 24/7 shifts in all my facilities and have people work fourday weeks. But I can’t do that yet.”

At StandFast Group, “our main goal in 2023 is to increase capacity to meet expected increases in demand from our existing customer base and new business growth,” says President and CEO Jay Carman. “We have plans in place to automate some of our production lines through investments in bundle breakers and extra-takeoff conveyors. Additionally, we may add another specialty folder-gluer. With improved throughput and additional capacity, we’re going to get back to providing service levels our customers have come to expect from us.”

Carman notes that, like many other companies in the industry, StandFast is also proactively seeking solutions to the manufacturing labor shortage. For one thing, he says, “we are looking at various ways to reduce our dependency on temporary labor. We’re consolidating the amount of temp agencies we work with and increasing hourly pay for production staff. Furthermore, we’re providing increased training throughout our organization.”

At Bay Cities, the company is already into its official year 2023 and already facing some significant headwinds, including ongoing supply chain issues and inflation, according to Chairman and CEO Greg Tucker. “Obviously, Bay Cities cannot control these things,” he acknowledges.

However, the company can control its response to the situation. “We have set a course to continue to drive profitable business for our employee-owners,” Tucker says. “We have worked diligently on building our bench and training them to understand and be most excellent at our processes to completely delight our clients. Our goal this year is a healthy increase in gross sales by 15% to 20% while moving margin upward.”

Growing and Innovating

To aid the company in reaching its goals for the new year, Bay Cities is investing in a range of new equipment, including the pur chase of a second high-speed digital press.

In addition, Tucker says, “to com plement our die cutting, we installed a 135-inch, 5-color die cutter with inside and outside print capabilities to address redundancy and enhance operational efficiencies through the manufacturing plant and the pack-out facilities. We are bringing in a desperately needed replacement flexo for our aging mini with die cutting abilities.

“We are adding a laser cutter to comple ment our digital world. The digital facility will have the most advanced weaponry in the market. Our goal is high speedto-market digital printing, no setup costs, variable-print ability, and no tooling for cutting to help our customers win on shelf and online.”

It isn’t just about new hardware, though. “We are employing software innovations that have removed key strokes by humans and will soon reduce the amount of human decision-making

required to run orders,” Tucker says, “with hyperefficiencies unmatched in our environment through the utilization of AI [artificial intelligence] and innovative software solutions. We have no desire to sit back while the world passes us by. Instead, we are following the example of our peers in

Silicon Valley to drive real speed to market here.”

The company is also launching three new client-facing services. BC360 will help to manage sales and analytics and bring clients into retail, Tucker says. BCL is a logistics company, and BC Creative is a full-line creative services group. “We

“We have no desire to sit back while the world passes us by. Instead, we are following the example of our peers in Silicon Valley to drive real speed to market here.”

—Greg Tucker, chairman and CEO, Bay Cities

also will be helping clients reduce costs by utilizing our ISTA lab, which we use to performance-test every display we design,” he adds.

Growth is on Potocsnak’s mind as well. “We’ve been very blessed with a lot of growth recently,” he says. “But there is a limited amount of capacity or consumption available in this country. Going forward, I’m going to be looking at becoming more involved in the converting side. I think there are opportunities in big-volume, personal ized boxmaking, and I believe we have the equipment and infrastructure to pull it off.” A recently purchased boxmaking plant will help the company to explore this new market.

Carman says StandFast has no plans at present for major expansions or major equipment purchases. The focus, instead, is on improved customer service and introducing new capabilities to the marketplace. “In terms of innovation,” he adds, “we would like to see better aggregation of our manufacturing data to enable our production staff to reduce setup times and enhance quality. We’re in the process of implementing new software on our corrugator to provide better communication and visibility of orders to our sheet plant operation.”

Lingering Concerns

Despite the determination and renewed commitment resulting from the past few years, manufacturers continue to be concerned about the industry and what the future may hold.

In its 2022 Manufacturing Industry Outlook, research firm Deloitte surveyed more than 500 U.S. executives and senior leaders regarding the current and future state of manufacturing. “Workforce shortages and supply chain instability are reducing operational efficiency and margins,” respondents noted. “Job openings—at more than twice the gap to reach pre-pandemic employment levels—hover near all-time highs. ... Sourcing bottlenecks and global logistics logjams are likely to remain challenges ... along with cost pressure and inflation risk. ... Adding to this mix are risks from COVID-19 variants, cyberattacks, environmental challenges, and higher corporate tax rates. The industry can expect elevated uncertainty from a range of potential disruptors globally.”

As if these concerns were not enough, a third-quarter 2022 Deloitte survey of U.S. chief financial officers revealed that 46% of those surveyed expect the North American economy to be in a recession by the new year, while 39% expect the economy to enter a period of stagflation.

Yet despite that relatively negative picture, the majority of business leaders surveyed continue to focus more on the opportunities than the obstructions. “Eighty-six percent of manufacturing executives we surveyed report they are somewhat or very positive on business,” the Manufacturing Industry Outlook revealed.

The situation is similar for the boxmakers we spoke to: As they look ahead to 2023, they are generally positive, even as they proactively prepare for the challenges that will certainly come. “I’m excited about the future,” Potocsnak says. “But at the same time, I have to say this: We make our own opportunities. There’s not going to be a lot of low-hanging fruit, to be honest.

“I can focus more on big-picture growth and innovation because I’ve got people who are devoted to staying on top of what’s happening at the shop floor level. I’ve been very fortunate in that way. But that didn’t just happen; I built the company that way from the very beginning. My advice to other boxmakers is to bring in the best people you can, equip them to do the best work they can, and then push hard for your vision for the company, which may not always match what the industry says or even what your advisors say.”

“We see tremendous growth in a changing atmosphere focused on innovation, process management, and having the best skilled employee-owners on the planet,” Tucker says. His 2023 advice for boxmakers is simple: “Keep steady your course, and let us continue to be the very proud industry that we deserve to be.”

Robert Bittner is a Michigan-based freelance journalist and a frequent BoxScore contributor.

“My advice to other boxmakers is to bring in the best people you can, equip them to do the best work they can, and then push hard for your vision for the company, which may not always match what the industry says or even what your advisors say.”

—John Potocsnak, owner, Corrugated Supplies Co.

AICC 2022 ANNUAL REPORT

AICC’s fiscal year 2022 (FY 2022) ended June 30. It was a year of great change, starting with the COVID-19 pandemic still in front of mind and ending with a feeling of things being more familiar. But we won’t go so far as to use the term “normal” because COVID-19 is still with us, and behaviors and norms in the industry and the workplace are continuing to evolve. AICC continues to evolve as well.

The box business, throughout the fiscal year, remained strong. The age-old challenge for labor in manufacturing remained and was exacerbated by evolving expectations in the workforce. AICC programs, driven by member participation in AICC committees, attempted to shed new light on labor and other challenges facing members while their businesses continued to perform at record levels. The teeth of inflation and the fears of recession were strongest as the fiscal year drew to a close.

National Meetings and Events

Although it seems like ancient history, SuperCorrExpo, postponed from its 2020 iteration, was the key opening event of the fi scal year in September 2021. A robust turnout from the U.S.-based industry made for a successful show. Several suppliers had equipment on the floor, and the activity on the floor reflected the ongoing success of the machines and services businesses in the paper-based packaging industry—busy. Manufacturers’ lead times were long going into the event and were added to because of the event. SuperCorrExpo missed the attendance of our Canadian, European, and Asian visitors due to travel restrictions that have since, thankfully, been lifted.

AICC regional summits resumed at the start of calendar year 2022 with the West Coast Ski Meeting in Telluride, Colorado, in February. Next up was the national Spring Meeting in Palm Desert,

California, in April. Palm Desert is a top AICC member-preferred meeting destination. Th is was borne out by the nearly 700 attendees and strong business and social programing, including the Independents Cup Golf Tournament, which netted $30,000 for the Foundation for Packaging Education. The Southeast Summit took place in Alpharetta, Georgia, in May and drew its usual strong participation from members in the region and suppliers everywhere. Later in May, the Midwest Summit occurred in conjunction with Chicago TAPPI, always a memorable event.

These in-person events allow us to apply the term “familiar” to the year we’ve just closed. We’ve said repeatedly that AICC members are a social bunch with strong networks who want to get together and meet in person. For more than a year, that was difficult to do. But member support of in-person events came back strong, and AICC thanks each of you for that.

A return to the familiar—and so much more

Education and Training

AICC’s partnership with The Packaging School (TPS) fi nished its fi fth and, as it turns out, fi nal year. TPS has hosted AICC’s Packaging School since 2017. During that time, the roster of Packaging School courses has grown to more than 100, including 27 in Spanish. From January 2017 through June 2022, AICC’s Packaging School has seen members complete nearly 12,000 courses. As the graph on p. 47 shows, AICC online training participation is consistently higher year over year, a trend we expect to continue. LinkedIn confi rms this expectation; its Global Talent Trends 2022 report shows 89% of respondents (employees) want professional development opportunities. Education is a major component of professional development. AICC will continue to provide a minimum of 10 new courses and three new translations each year in support of its members.

As the new fiscal year 2023 (FY 2023) begins, AICC is moving its Packaging School from TPS to a new, AICC-hosted platform called AICC NOW. This article is meant to look back on the past fiscal year, but a few words on AICC NOW are in order. This new platform will allow AICC members to more easily navigate and search for AICC content—past and present. As a part of this, AICC will debut its Packaging School replacement, Packaging University, on the AICC NOW site.

We cannot mention AICC’s Packaging University without a thank-you to its education investors. The following companies have committed fi nancial and intellectual capital to create courses rostered on the site: Fosber, BCM, SUN Automation, JB Machinery, Pamarco, Absolute, Printron, EFI, Krueger, Bobst, HP, and Stafford Corrugated Products. They have our gratitude.

AICC’s partnership with TPS will endure, however, as TPS partners with AICC on course development. In addition,

TPS will continue to host two microsites for AICC education partners, the Association of Caribbean, Central and South American Corrugators (ACCCSA) and the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association. Through the partnerships with these two fellow associations, AICC’s course content has grown as well. We expect these partnerships to continue to grow and thrive.

AICC returned to Packaging Xperience, its premier in-person education event in February in Kansas City, Missouri. Titled “Packaging Possibilities — A New Era, A New Xperience,” the agenda included a roster of speakers that reflects the pivots in the marketplace. Topics ranged from the people side of the business to data and its uses, to emerging trends, to blockchain and cryptocurrency. It was truly an Xperience for the times. Th ree plant tours were a part of the program. Plant tours are always popular with AICC members.

Speaking of plant tours, since members’ travel was somewhat restricted, AICC launched a series of virtual plant tours in December 2021. These proved to be incredibly popular with membership, as members “opened their doors” by shooting videos of their plants and walking their fellow members through during virtual videoconference meetings. There were separate chatroom opportunities for suppliers whose products were seen on the floor during the tour. Between 300 and 400 attendees made it to each of the six virtual plant tours.

More education programming was developed, based on a concept initiated by AICC Chairman Gene Marino (Akers Packaging) and Associate Chairman Joe Morelli (Huston Patterson/Lewisburg Printing Co.). Working with AICC’s Virginia Humphrey, they launched a podcast that brought member leadership

stories and insights with each session. Launched in February, Breaking Down Boxes, which “drops” on the first Monday of every month, has steadily risen among the ranks of business podcasts. You can find it via any number of podcast plat forms or launch it from www.AICCbox.org.

AICC’s leadership groups are expanding. The longest-standing such group, the CEO Advisory, now counts nine in number and serves as the model for the expansion of leadership groups to include Production and Financial advisory groups.

Foundation for Packaging Education

Launched in fall 2020, the Foundation for Packaging Education is a 501(c)(3) education foundation with the mission to ensure funds will be available to sustain AICC’s and other entities’ education pro gramming directed toward current workers in the paper-based packaging industries. The number of donors and the amount in the fund continue to grow. This year, AICC’s board of directors approved the proceeds of the annual Independents Cup Golf Tournament to go to the foundation. Also, the foundation’s board of directors approved the creation of an annual fundraising event. The inaugural event will occur November 8–10 at The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island in South Carolina.

The foundation also administers two scholarships, AICC’s long-standing Dick Troll Memorial Scholarship and the newly created Steve Narva Memorial Scholarship, funded by several pledge companies in the foundation.

AICC thanks all those companies that have gotten behind independent education through their generous pledges.

Publications and Advertising

AICC’s Salary, Hourly Wage & Benefits Report became available this spring. This biennial document was especially timely this year, as it incorporates post-pan demic wage and benefit data from 70

contributing sheet plants and corruga tor plants.

Since all AICC publications are avail able only in digital format (a change made a couple of years ago), AICC’s publications and media—past and present—will now be housed at the previously mentioned AICC NOW site, NOW.AICCbox.org Included are surveys, white papers, Ask the Expert content, BoxScore, all webinars, and so much more. Essentially, all AICC media and information will be rostered at AICC NOW and easily accessible through enhanced search features.

AICC NOW will also offer more online advertising opportunities for members wishing to showcase themselves in front of AICC member companies and all their employees.

AICC Canada

Pandemic restrictions in Canada were more severe, widespread, and longer-lasting than those experienced in the U.S. AICC Canada’s board of directors did a magnificent job keeping members, north and south of the border, engaged in programming remotely. AICC Canada held its annual President’s Luncheon in Toronto in December. It was a warm reunion on a cool day for so many members who had been kept apart for so long. Sami Jo Small, a mainstay on the Canadian Women’s Olympic ice hockey team for 10 years, was the keynote speaker and was inspiring in her remarks.

AICC Canada also got together in June for its 15th annual golf outing at the Lionhead Golf Club & Conference Centre in Brampton, Ontario.

As FY 2023 commenced, AICC Canada programming was already back on track with a September AGM and its Corrugated Connections Tabletop Meeting on October 27 in Toronto.

Royal Containers’ Terri-Lynn Levesque represents AICC Canada members on the AICC board of directors, and Royal Containers’ Don Duplantis serves as

AICC Canada president. AICC thanks them for their generous and ongoing service to members.

AICC México AICC education programming and webinar participation continues to grow exponentially in Mexico. Membership is growing with more than 50 converters and suppliers on the roster. AICC México’s annual Trade Fair and Meeting took place in Monterrey, Nuevo León, in November 2021 and was a big success. AICC México engaged with members through four seminars, three webinars, two Emerging Leader events, and three additional in-person events. Sergio Menchaca Flores of Eko Empaques de Cartón serves as the president of AICC México and represents members there on the AICC board of directors.

Governance, Cooperation, and Advocacy AICC is led by a very engaged and representative board of directors whose members come from all segments of the industry and marketplace. The board of directors meets three times a year and vir tually as necessary. AICC activity beyond the board level is vested in the extraordi narily strong participation of members in its various standing committees:

• Convention Content

• Membership and Marketing

• Education

• Government Affairs

• Paperboard, Regulations, and Sheet Supply

• Associate Member

Participation in any committee is open to every AICC member who wishes to make a difference in this Association. These committees play a key role in developing AICC’s programming for this fiscal and future years. This is the primary reason AICC programs are so relevant to members’ needs: They are populated by peers, who produce what is

necessary based on their daily experi ences in the industry. Each committee is chaired by a member of the AICC board of directors, so there is connectivity and accountability both ways.

AICC continues its close ties with fellow industry associations such as the Fibre Box Association; Technical Association of the Pulp & Paper Industry, with which AICC shares co-ownership in SuperCorrExpo and Corrugated Week; and the American Forest & Paper Association. Internationally, AICC is a member of the International Corrugated Case Association (ICCA), with represen tation on the ICCA board of directors by Kim Nelson of Royal Containers, AICC’s overseas director. AICC main tains relationships with the Sheet Plant Association in the United Kingdom, the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers, and the previously mentioned South and Central American entity ACCCSA. AICC management and

staff endeavor to represent members at various events throughout the year.

AICC’s interests in advocacy flow from its Government Affairs Committee to its partnerships with several groups that are active in federal affairs. The Small Business Legislative Council (SBLC) regularly provides information on issues that affect independent businesses, which AICC disseminates to members.

AICC President Mike D’Angelo serves on the SBLC board of directors. Most AICC members are manufacturers.

AICC’s membership in the Council of Manufacturing Associations (CMA) ensures that AICC member needs are well represented. CMA is a part of the National Association of Manufacturers, one of the higher-horsepower advocacy organizations in Washington, D.C. AICC also recommends that each of its members be a strong advocate locally with their town, county, state, and federal representatives.

Membership

AICC members confirmed that the Association serves their needs and provides programming to assist in their successes by renewing their membership for FY 2022 at better than 94%. This is the retention tar get set by the board of directors. This target refers to members that can be retained and does not consider members lost through acquisition. As of June 30, AICC rostered

483 members in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, with 268 being general (boxmaker) members and 215 being Associate (supplier) members. Dues collection for the year was $1,598,711—3% more than budget. AICC signed up 13 new general members and 30 new Associate members during the fiscal year.

Financial Results

Budgeting for FY 2022, as with the preceding year, remained a challenge. AICC draws operating revenue and incurs operating expenses in the following broad buckets: advertising, administrative, membership, meetings, education and training, and products and publications. AICC exceeded budgeted revenue in all categories except for education and train ing. A Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness payment and an employee retention tax credit figured prominently on the administrative revenue line. AICC racked up higher administrative and advertising expenses while holding all other expense categories below budget.

Below the operating line, AICC took a hit on the unrealized loss line due to financial market activity. This was offset by SuperCorrExpo income.

The overall result was operating and bottom-line black numbers that were slightly better than budget and worse than budget, respectively. AICC remains in good shape financially with solid cash flow and strong short-term reserves.

On this page are AICC’s income state ment and balance sheet data for FY 2022.

The above financial information is not audited. The spreadsheets are derived from AICC’s monthly financial statements. At the time of this writing, AICC’s audit, an annual process that we conduct with Mullins PC of Bethesda, Maryland, has not been completed. Members that wish to receive AICC’s audited financial statements should contact AICC President Mike D’Angelo at mdangelo@aiccbox.org 

SPECIAL SECTION

AICC EDUCATION CATALOG

Essential, free online education now available through Packaging University and AICC NOW

All of the following courses are available to all employees at all AICC member locations. Take courses today at learning.AICCbox.org

Giving Motivational Feedback

AICC Course 101

Corrugated Basics 101: The History of Corrugated Corrugated Basics 102: Corrugated Board and Its Uses

Corrugated Basics 103: Manufacturing and Converting

Customer Service

How to Help an Upset Customer

Education Investor Courses

Digital Transformation for Corrugated Printing

Essential Principles of Water-Based Flexo Inks

Innovations and Machinery Advancements in the Corrugated Industry

Optimizing the Flexographic Printing Process

Rightweighting

Rotary Die Cutting Operation

The Corrugator

Finance

Keeping Score: Understanding Financial Statements

Understanding Accounts Receivable and Cash

Human Resources

Avoiding Antitrust Liability Corrective Counseling Designing Your Training Space How to Train Anyone to Do Anything Internal Staff Development Guide

Maximize Training ROI

Retain, Engage, and Grow Employees

Leadership

Communication for Coaches

Decision Trees: Knowledge Insurance Delegation DIY

Emotional Intelligence for Career Development From Management to Leadership

Go Team: Make Your Team More Productive Increasing Margin Through Process Improvement Mentoring Best Practices

Navigating Time: Time Management for the Job Shop Productive Meetings Situational Leadership

Maintenance

Boiler Rooms, Boilers, and Steam Systems

Corrugator Roll Alignment

Corrugated Roll Audit Facility Assessment from a Maintenance Perspective How to Audit a Corrugator

Implementing a Routine Scheduled Maintenance Process Maintenance Department 5S Maintenance Mapping

Preventive Maintenance Optimization

Packaging Production

Flexographic Print Fundamentals

Adhering to Corrugator Standards

Benefi ts of ERP Software Solutions for the Packaging Industry Data Management: Machines

Fingerprinting the Flexographic Press Flexographic Print Plates

Introduction to Rigid Box OEE for the Packaging Industry Packaging Production Math Setup Reduction

The Manufacturing Environment Understanding Anilox Rolls Understanding Combined Board Combinations

Unit Load Design and Analysis

WARP and How to Control It

Process Improvement

Build a Visual Workplace

Faster, Better, Smarter with Value Stream Maps

Introduction to Lean Packaging Key Performance Indicators

Project Planning: MAPP the Project for Success

Proposals, Problems, and Projects with A3

Standardized Work Resources

Cross Training Resource Machine Primer

Tracking Training Tool

Safety

Safety Basics

Sales

Accelerate Virtual Relationships to Create New Opportunities

Five Top Sales Skills How to Spec a Corrugated Box Introduction to e-Commerce

Spanish Courses

Cómo especificar una caja

Como mejorar las ventas en esta nueva realidad

Cómo optimizar la impresión flexográfica Cómo realizar una auditoría a la corrugadora Comprensión de las Combinaciones de Cartón Corrugado Conceptos básicos de corrugado 101, 102, 103

Control de las operaciones en una empresa fabricante de empaques de cartón Creando un Lugar de trabajo visual usando las 5s o las 7S Factores que afectan la resistencia a la estiba en los empaques de cartón corrugado Fundamentos de la Impresión Flexográfica Fundamentos de seguridad Implementación de un Proceso de Rutina de Mantenimiento Programado

Introducción al Diseño de Cargas Unitarias de Cajas a Nivel de Sistema La Eficiencia General del Equipo (OEE) en la Industria del Empaque

La importancia de los empaques en el e-commerce, Modulo 1, 2 Matemáticas para la producción de empaques Navegando el Tiempo: Gestión de Tiempo para el Taller Operación del Troqueladora Rotativa Optimización del Mantenimiento Preventivo Pandeo y cómo controlarlo Principios básicos de las tintas a base de agua para impresión flexográfica Reducción de configuración

Learn With Peers

CEO Advisory Groups

The CEO Advisory Groups were formed as a resource for box manufacturing plant CEOs. Members of each group focus on real-world experiences, best practices, and pitfalls to avoid. You are held accountable and helped by your peers. Connecting with other executives gives you the opportunity to see your company from an outside perspective and discuss changes that can positively impact your bottom line.

Emerging Leader Program

The AICC Emerging Leader (EL) program is an exclusive series of training, networking, and leadership opportunities for ambitious young professionals (35 and younger) in the paper and packaging industry. With the opportunities and information available in the EL program, young professionals who are ready to commit to their professional development will have the chance to grow into proven, reliable future leaders in their company and industry.

Leadership Advisory Group

As a leader in an AICC member company, you face challenges that many others do not comprehend—the pressures to succeed, make the right decisions, and create a positive future for yourself and the company. When involved in AICC programs, many of you have opportunities to confide in others, share ideas, and receive honest feedback. This group will be even more intentional in meeting its members’ specific needs for connection, education, and discreet communication.

Production Leadership Advisory Groups

Production Leadership Advisory Groups are designed to include operations and production managers from AICC member companies. The group is open to all member companies regardless of location or market niche.

Continuous Improvement Leadership Group

The Continuous Improvement Leadership Group is designed to serve managers of all departments. The group is open to all member companies regardless of location or market niche. You will be part of a group marked by mutual trust; sharing of best practices and respectful disagreement; and the advancement of each member company’s success, productivity, and group members’ career development.

Sales Management Cohort

Sales management was tough enough pre-pandemic, but add in the pandemic and supply chain challenges, and it has never been harder to be a sales manager than in the market of today. So, AICC has teamed with renowned sales consultant and coach Mark Roberts and bestselling author and sales training facilitator Ed Wallace to deliver AICC’s first Sales Management Cohort professional development program.

Sales Advisory Group

AICC has teamed with Roberts and Wallace to deliver AICC’s first Sales Advisory Group professional development program. The group program is data-driven, using sales skills and relationship diagnostics that help you assess your selling strengths and skill gaps that could be costing you your commissions.

Coming Soon: Women’s Leadership Advisory Group

This year, AICC is bringing together a group specifically for women in manufacturing. We know that, for women, career paths are often different. This group will give you a platform to find better ways of communicating, marketing yourself, and sharing your experiences. You will showcase your abilities and add to the growth of this industry as employees, advocates, and leaders within your company.

Recorded and Upcoming Webinars

Available Now

Maintenance

Corrugating

Which

The

Creating

Maintenance

New

Infra-Red Dryers For Improved Productivity, Improved Press Efficiency & Better Graphics

Anatomy Complete! — Tips On What Plates Work Best

Rotary Die Cutting Operations Rightweighting vs Board Combinations Corrugator Roll Audit

Corrugating Roll Equipment

Machine Safety System Circuits And Emergency Stops

Dry End Control — Theory Of Operation

Executive Strategies: Incorporation Of Hazmat Regulations For Box Fabricators

Hazmat Awareness For Salespeople: Value Added Opportunities Without Regulatory Risk

Hazmat General Awareness & Security (Part 1 — Hazmat Series)

HazMat: Marking & Labelling (Part 2 — Hazmat Series)

HazMat: Box Fabrication Functions (Part 3 — Hazmat Series)

Maintenance Strategies & Tactics

Driving Organic Growth

Understanding Our Capabilities To Meet Customer Expectations: Leveling Customer Expectations

Understanding Our Capabilities To Meet Customer Expectations: Understanding Print Registrations

Understanding Our Capabilities To Meet Customer Expectations: Machine Plate Limitations

Line Weights & Color Management

Maximum Productivity

Impactful Initial Sales Meetings To Drive Revenue

How To Facilitate Margin Improvement

FMLA Updates — What’s Old Is New Again ADA News You Can Use: Trends, Tips & Updates

Simply Controlling Color

Coming Soon

How To Create A Machine Spares List Design For Success (Structure & Graphics)

What The Customer Wants & Will Pay For How Saving A Few Dollars Up-Front Can Cost Thousands Of Dollars Down The Road

Accelerate Hybrid Relationships

Target Conversations With Ideal Buyers Deliver Impactful Value Propositions

Grow Account Spend Through Lateral & Vertical Relationship Strategies Social Presence & Follow-Up Cadence Deliver A Price Increase That Sticks How To Recession Proof Your Sales

Net Profit By Customer & How To Fix Profi t Leakage

Profile The Elite Sales Person Today

Key Skills Of An Effective Sales Manager Maximizing Your Packaging & Point Of Purchase

Thwarting The Counterfeiters: Protecting Your Brand’s Revenue, Reputation & Customers

Secrets Behind Standout Packaging Design

Recruiting & Retaining Top Talent (Shop Floor & Front Office)

Paper Sourcing For 2023 & Beyond

Major CPG Initiatives That Will Have A Meaningful Impact On Us in 2023 & Beyond

Building Systems For Business Development

Being A Culture Champion Behaviors Of Inclusion (Bridging The Generational Divide) Scaling Your Business (Startups)

Press Set Up & Operation Print Process Control & Troubleshooting Components Overview: Fundamentals Approach

Prepress: Halftone Screening & Color Builds

Webinars can be watched with the All Access Pass.

All Access Pass

This pass gives your entire company access to 100 webinars now, 50-plus new webinars coming this year, and 10 One Point Lessons.

You get all of this as an AICC All Access Pass participant for a one-time fee of $1,895. This year, no codes are needed. AICC NOW simply unlocks all that you and your employees have access to.

The pass gives the following to AICC members:

» Flexibility in choosing educational offerings and which team members take them.

» Simplicity and accuracy in budgeting for professional development.

» Best available price for AICC webinars.

» 24/7 access to all AICC webinars and One Point Lessons.

» Access to some of AICC’s best and new speakers, trainers, and content.

» Ability to watch webinars critical to their development, knowing that you

and your company purchased a pass, giving them full access.

» No codes, no billing for individual webinars—you and your employees have unlocked access.

The All Access Pass is available only to AICC members in good standing. Learn more at www.AICCbox.org/pass

The Value of Digital Connectivity

BY TIM CONNELL

Over the past several years, all businesses have had to respond to the notion that “if we don’t embrace digital technologies, our company will be left behind.” While this is true, recent surveys have indicated that companies are recognizing the key motivational factors for completing their digital journeys have shifted, mostly a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A journey that was started to gain a competitive advantage or improve speed to market has become more about increasing employee productivity while retaining and recruiting better talent.

Converters and suppliers are seeing the need for connectivity and for becoming more efficient. New, advanced digital technologies have proved to be transformative for the companies that value connectivity. Th rough this collaboration, both parties can manage and support the performance of machine operations that expose process and operational weaknesses.

Businesses that operate in this connected world are experiencing fewer supply chain obstacles, increasing their chances of meeting customer demands. Remote support digital technologies have shown improved product performance that creates a greater customer experience.

These technologies also can promote innovation that will alleviate the problems we’re facing now and in the future. Applying digital twin technologies, manufacturers can design and engineer equipment within a digital environment that drastically compresses the R&D cycle, which allows manufacturers to quickly develop leaner machinery and a sourcing strategy that can overcome supply chain constraints. Converters, project planners, engineers, and others can collaborate on a working digital machine to innovate anything from a machine

feature to a full-line solution with automated and remote support capabilities.

The power of digital twin technology also allows users to better prepare for new assets by maximizing the time between the machine purchase and installation. Th is is accomplished by using this technology to train operators and maintenance personnel on how to properly use and maintain equipment before they see it.

The enhancement of mobile applications allows training documents, parts manuals, maintenance schedules, and other manufacturer communications to be right in the palm of a converter’s hand. They offer operators and maintenance personnel the ability to scan QR codes on the machine for instructional videos, machine manuals, exploded machine parts views, and diagrams with the ability to order spare parts with a click or a swipe.

Finally, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are digital technologies that can bring a futuristic approach to machine design, remote support, and training. AR headsets enable service technicians to view what your operators or maintenance crews are experiencing for real-time collaboration. Superimposed images can be displayed by the manufacturer that offer faster communication and instructions. In a no-risk environment, VR can be used for collaborative designing and testing and enhanced project planning.

Companies need to continue to understand digital connectivity resources. Organizational leaders who realize the agility, adaptability, and resiliency offered with integration will seek out partners capable of augmenting their capabilities.

Tim Connell is director of sales at A.G. Stacker and is vice chairman of AICC’s Associate board.

JEFF DIETZ

KOLBUS AMERICA INC. DIRECTOR JEFFREY.DIETZ@KOLBUS.COM

JOHN BURGESS PAMARCO SECRETARY JOHN.BURGESS@PAMARCO.COM

TIM CONNELL A.G. STACKER INC. VICE CHAIRMAN TCONNELL@AGSTACKER.COM

JOE MORELLI

HUSTON PATTERSON PRINTERS & LEWISBERG PRINTING CO. IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN JMORELLI@HUSTONPATTERSON.COM

GREG JONES SUN AUTOMATION GROUP CHAIRMAN GREG.JONES@SUNAUTOMATION.COM

What the Tech?

How AI Can Enable Better Leadership

BY RICHARD BOYD

As if straight from science fiction, artificial intelligence (AI), perhaps the buzzword of the 21st century, has become, for many, simply this nebulous catchall idea of computers magically making things work on their own. As a society, we’re slowly but surely overcoming our Stanley Kubrick-esque fears of AI and have come to trust and even rely on it to handle some of the biggest datacentric and information-heavy challenges that were once left up to intuition and guesstimation.

From product inventory at scale to civil engineering, global health crises to sports scouting, we have acknowledged the limitations of the human mind when it comes to digesting voluminous data points. But in the mainstream notion of AI, its utility is still largely siloed within what we consider data-dependent chal lenges: how much product to order, when is the optimal time to begin the commute, whether or not to refinance, and the like. Because of this, we are overlooking a larger and more intangible component of society that at its heart is also being revolutionized by AI: leadership.

Since the dawn of civilization, leadership has been the key differentiator between success and failure—of nations at war, of corporations, of government, of innovation, and of innumerable other verticals. As a society, we are constantly bombarded with quotes and dictums about effective leadership and its virtues. But the challenge in quantifying good leadership is the perceived intangibility and elusiveness of what constitutes it.

Enter data and modeling. In the human experience, leadership has been reliant largely on intuition. Certainly, people can develop better intuition through experien tial learning and by being a student of their

vertical, so it is no coincidence that the aforementioned leaders were successful—to a degree. But to AI, each person, each situation, and each variable is a data point ready to be analyzed. So, by strategically integrating machine learning and AI, it is instantaneously revolutionizing leadership within some of the most prominent and important areas of society—namely defense, health care, education, and human resources—ultimately leading to better outcomes for a better world.

Take the following scenarios:

• The CEO of a large corporation has thousands of employees, each of whom has social and emotional needs, growth trajectories, health factors, and skills, and the company must attract and retain the right individu als to be profitable while remaining a desirable place to work.

• An Army sergeant is given a squadron of soldiers with the goal of leading them through basic training, dividing them into the duties that suit them, and deploying to an overseas base for a specific mission. The sergeant must see the gaps in readiness against that mission and address them for each soldier.

• A teacher has a classroom full of different students with different needs, skill levels, home situations, levels of confidence, and dietary and health stipulations, and they must all pass the same standardized test in order to keep the school funded.

In all of these cases, the leader’s success, the team’s success, and the initiative’s success are measured by the final outcome. But these “successes” all hinge on the leader’s ability to intuitively shuffle the right

people into the right roles and to provide the right type of direction, incentives, and supervision. In some cases, they must even detect and prevent health, social, or emotional issues to protect the individuals and the health and morale of the group.

Having an AI system reveals the gaps across every dimension associated with successful outcomes and provides actionable leadership guidance. Leaders often have access to hundreds of snippets of information that can lead to conclu sions about the needs of each person, but the volume of this information is nearly impossible for the leader to comprehen sively act on.

Although leaders have certainly succeeded in these exact scenarios for centuries, failure is always a major risk, especially as other mitigating factors, such as budgets, timelines, or public health crises, begin to close in. AI gap analysis, paired with recommended actions, makes this complex analysis more actionable.

The data is readily available and massive, but humans alone are incapable of processing it adequately. As a society, making the best use of the information at our disposal is critical to achieving the best results. AI holds the key to effective leadership, and as we look to the future of the corrugated industry, we must not only embrace it but also demand it. 

Richard Boyd is founder and CEO of AI and machine learning company

Tanjo Inc. and co-founder and CEO of Ultisim Inc., a simulation learning company that utilizes gaming technology and AI. He was the keynote speaker at SuperCorrExpo 2021.

The Winds of Change

BY MITCH KLINGHER

The past few years have been a “golden age” for independent converters, and I have been urging them to take advantage of the most favorable market conditions I have seen in my 30-plus years of experience with this business. It’s been a great run, and seemingly everyone did quite well. For most of you, sales and margins improved, and while some costs rose significantly, in general, profit levels improved greatly.

The gold standard of profitability for independents had always been a return on sales of 15%, but over the past two years, I have seen margins of 20% and higher. Paper was scarce for a while, lead times for orders went from days to weeks, and overall, converting capacities were challenged in almost every regional marketplace. Customers were far less concerned with price and far more concerned with lead times and delivery schedules.

Well, conditions seem to be changing fairly quickly. Paper has gone from being scarce to being plentiful, and millions of tons of new capacity are scheduled to come online soon. In addition, our traditional containerboard export partners in Europe, Mexico, and South America also have millions of tons in new capacity starting up. Demand for boxes also seems to be waning, with many boxmakers reporting that their volumes have gone down in the past few months. The Federal Reserve seems committed to fighting inflation by raising interest rates, which will certainly have a negative effect on the economy. This will likely depress box demand as well. Finally, much of the new equipment ordered in the past 18 months is beginning to be installed, and there will be additional converting capacity in almost all regions of the country.

In my experience, most independent converters lose margin when the published

price of containerboard comes down. While we may be a long way from that happening, all of the capacity starting up in our markets and in our export markets in the face of slowing demand is not exactly a good omen. Our integrated friends are going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting to ensure this does not occur; this may include shuttering some older and less efficient mills. So, in the face of increased converting capacities that will make things more competitive, cost inflation that is still not under control, and rising interest rates and a glut of paper that threatens overall margins, what should an independent converter do?

The fi rst order of business involves an introspective look at your operations and some basic planning. I recommend you model your business going out 12 to 24 months with slightly decreasing sales and margins. Do a couple of cases and see what your profit levels look like. Look at it from a cash flow point of view as well to ensure you have sufficient cash reserves

and liquidity. Remember, interest rates are going up, and that will have an impact on your bottom line. The larger companies have been sending orders to their smaller competitors, and this is likely to slow down or stop, so you need to determine how much of this type of business you are currently running and what your business may look like with less of it. You need to come up with contingency plans for what your modeling tells you may happen and consider such concerns as:

1. Is it time to go from a three-shift to a two-shift operation on some or all of your machine centers?

2. Should you consider outsourcing some business you are currently running inefficiently?

3. Do you have extra people anywhere in your operation?

4. Should you renew the lease on extra space you have been carrying or consolidate your operation?

5. Is it time to cut inventory levels?

6. Is it likely some customers may start paying more slowly in the face of weakening overall market conditions?

You also need to take a look at your own customer base and converting capacities on an order-by-order basis and a customer-by-customer basis, and ask yourselves questions such as:

1. Have we taken on business that really doesn’t fit our plant and equipment configuration?

2. Is too much of our mix trade business more vulnerable in a business downturn?

3. Have we stretched our converting capacities too thin during the boom of the past few years, and is it time to cut back on some less profitable accounts?

4. Where are we vulnerable in the marketplace due to the multiple price increases of the past two years?

5. Do we have any planned investments in people, equipment, or facilities we should reconsider?

6. What will our business look like if we lose some of our major customers?

Those of you who have significant cash reserves and liquidity may fi nd that the machinery markets are going to change significantly. Higher interest rates, possible tightening of credit by the banks, and weakening business conditions may provide opportunities to acquire equipment at more favorable prices, terms, and lead times than in the past few years. Companies with strong balance sheets may fi nd significant opportunities in the marketplace during a downturn, and this may be part of your business calculus as well. It may be a good time for such companies to look for M&A candidates or buy equipment to broaden their lines

of business. Strong companies often do well in these areas during a downturn because everyone else is hunkering down to try to preserve what they have.

Based upon the business modeling and the introspective analysis of your business, you may want to contemplate some immediate changes to your previous plans or at least have some contingency plans in case sales and/or margins begin to show some deterioration. The winds of change are upon us, and it is time to consider reacting to them. Remember, the failure to plan can often become a plan to fail. 

Mitch Klingher is owner of Klingher Nadler LLP. He can be reached at 201-731-3025 or mitch@klinghernadler.com

Foundation for Packaging Education

A Worthy Cause

The number of donors to the Foundation for Packaging Education continues to grow. Since the last issue of BoxScore, the foundation welcomed Domtar and Freedom Corrugated to the list of companies that support independent education through the foundation.

Domtar’s generous donation will go into the general fund being built to support education programming for those already in the industry from AICC and other entities. Freedom Corrugated’s generous donation is targeted to the Steve Narva Memorial Scholarship, which is managed by the foundation. We thank these two latest foundation partners.

In addition to the Narva Memorial Scholarship, the foundation manages the

J. Richard Troll Memorial Scholarship, the long-standing AICC scholarship set up in honor and remembrance of AICC’s fi rst president. Both scholarships have been established to bring this wonderful industry to the attention of young people going into two- and four-year collegiate-level programs or technical education programs.

The Foundation for Packaging Education is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to ensuring that education programming will always be available to those who are employed in paper-based packaging industries. You’re receiving this issue of BoxScore in late October. You can still make a fully tax-deductible pledge and contribution this year to the foundation.

In so doing, you’re investing in your own future. What a worthy cause! 

Snap the QR code and contribute to the future of packaging education.

Socialize – Enjoy the best New York City has to offer during the holiday season. Network and strengthen new ties within the industry. By participating you will be supporting the International Corrugated Packaging Foundation (ICPF).

Program – Participants will begin with a Friday evening reception at Becall’s, sponsored by Pratt Industries. On Saturday, participants will attend a matinee of the latest Broadway hit, MJ, sponsored by BW Papersystems. Saturday night, join executives and spouses for a reception and dinner at the renowned Empire Steak House. The reception is sponsored by Fosber America and the dinner is sponsored by WestRock. Additional weekend sponsors include Green Bay Packaging and Greif.

In addition to participating, many executives (manufacturing executives, box plant owners & executives, and service & supplier executives) invite clients, and reward key executives from their companies with this special holiday weekend event.

Free time on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will allow for holiday shopping, sightseeing, museums, additional Broadway plays, and dining at New York’s finest.

Due to limited capacity, registration is on a “first come, first serve” basis.

“It is a special opportunity to join peers in an informal social environment. ICPF’s holiday weekend in New York is one of the most unique events in the industry. Your participation supports ICPF, an important resource for our future.” Contact Registration@icpfbox.org

Hood Container Corp., Huston Patterson, ICCA, Interstate Resources, JB Machinery, J. M. Fry Inks, KapStone, KemiArt, Kiwiplan, Kruger, Landaal Packaging, Lansmont Corporation, Latitude Machinery, Liberty Diversified International, MichCor Container, Mid-Atlantic Packaging, Mitchel-Lincoln Packaging, Moore Packaging, Morphy Containers, Packaging Corporation of America, Packaging Express, Package X, Pratt Industries, President Container, Progress Container & Display, PXI Digital Solutions, Robert Mann Packaging, Schwarz Partners, Serenity Packaging, Signode, Shipping Container Corp., Simpson Paper, Smurfit Kappa, Sound Packaging, StandFast Packaging, Sumter Packaging, TAPPI, Testing Machines Inc., Triad Packaging, U.S. Corrugated Inc., Vanguard Packaging, Wasatch Container, Western Corrugated Design, WestRock, York Container, AICC, and the Fibre Box Association.

Leading connectivity

MORE PERFORMANCE, MORE VALUE

From pre-feeding to palletizing, BOBST connects every step of the modern corrugated packaging process, to deliver more performance and value for you. Interested? Find your local BOBST representative at www.bobst.com/contact

Help! I Need Somebody!

Despite AICC’s best efforts and despite your best efforts, fi nding and retaining people remain the biggest challenges facing members as 2022 draws to a close. Th is has been a recurring theme for how many years now?

AICC has been providing you tools that are helping: Packaging University, with its 100 courses on a variety of topics; leadership groups; webinars; seminars; podcasts; white papers; and more. AICC’s focus on education seems to be correct—education is a critical component of professional development.

According to LinkedIn Global Talent Trends 2022 , professional development of team members was the most mentioned among respondents as the top area to invest in to improve company culture (59%). Flexible work support, No. 2 among respondents, is the opportunity that members have to meet the needs of those seeking a new work experience or keeping the folks that they’ve got.

EmployBridge’s 16th annual Voice of the Blue Collar Worker, a poll with 19,000 participants, supports this. It cited work schedule (21%), followed by consistent pay increases (14%) and good company culture (11%) as the top three reasons for workers to work where they do.

Flexible work schedules help to create the work-life balance that studies repeatedly show is the primary emerging driver for worker satisfaction.

These are high-level generalities suggested by data. What is the underlying driver? A dramatic change in attitude by Gen Zers and millennials compared with members of previous generations. These two groups will make up the majority of workers in our plants and offices in the next few years. AICC members need to be out in front of this important cohort to ensure the future of their manufacturing operations.

We’ve long known the difficulties we face with getting young people to consider working in a manufacturing environment. But a great deal of data out there can help point us in the right direction to be ready to meet the opportunity to position ourselves to be attractive and soughtafter employers.

Again, AICC can be a partner for you by bringing data closer to your mindshare. We’ve been endeavoring to do this through webinars, seminars, and the Education Xperience. We’ll keep providing data and information relevant to your needs.

I would also suggest you seek out the young people and the emerging leaders in your organizations—and AICC’s dynamic Emerging Leader group—for their ideas and insights into making your operation more attractive to their peers. They are a resource close at hand and one that knows your culture and respects it.

You’ve got them—they may help you get more like them!

Michael D’Angelo AICC President