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Corrugated industry veteran Tom Davis remembers when one of his clients was searching for new customers to replace lost business. The box plant's sales representatives insisted that there was no [...]

While the events of Sept. 11 certainly didn't help the corrugated packaging industry, they also can't be blamed for the problems the industry has been facing for some time, says [...]

He single-handedly took on a cause that has benefited hundreds of AICC members and their employees. Robert D. Cravens, founder and head of New World Services Ltd., Niles, Mich., was [...]

Focus 2001 was the theme of Bobst's worldwide premier of two machines for the corrugated container industry. Last week, the Swiss-based machinery manufacturer unveiled the Pacific folder-gluer and the SPO [...]

The city of Knoxville's web site boasts that it is home to leaders in the arts, traditionalists working to preserve its heritage and pioneers in industry. This last category is [...]

Bill Hutchinson admits that business at his corrugated sheet plant has slowed down this year. In fact, the 40-year industry veteran and president of Timberline Packaging Inc., Coal Center, Pa., [...]

James Maher, analyst with Morgan Price & Co., Inc., Miami, likes to refer to North America as the OPEC of kraft liners. With 4 percent of the world's inhabitants, North [...]

With worldwide financial market pressures closing in, Latin American and Caribbean box makers are calling for new technology and information to help them produce and deliver quality products. Members of [...]

Despite the great strides made in supply chain technology, most box makers continue to receive and process customer orders via fax and telephone. In an effort to streamline the process [...]

John Carman of Stand Fast Packaging, Addison, Ill., admits that it was difficult at first to get other corrugated box converters to participate with him in the FirstPak program. 'In [...]

'Risk taker,' 'Optimist,' 'Leader.' These words were heard often during the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters (AICC) Spring Meeting, themed 'Celebrating Entrepreneurship,' April 25-28 at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort in [...]

Success in the corrugated box business is about dedication and passion for the industry, says Anton Schiffenhaus, president Schiffenhaus Industries, Newark, N.J. Schiffenhaus was a keynote speaker at the Spring [...]

What does the president and ceo of a 95-year-old integrated company know about entrepreneurship? More than you might think, says Duane McDougall of Willamette Industries, Portland, Ore. '... entrepreneurship is [...]

While the traditional folding carton and corrugated box still exist, there is now a hybrid that Tony Reilly, vice president of sales, Flutes, LLC, likes to refer to as the [...]

When Thomas Fullove became chairman of TAPPI's Corrugated Packaging Division (CPD) last year he inherited a whole new ball game in terms of the division's goals and objectives. The association [...]

In August, Brent Wagner was named general manager of Weyerhaeuser's containerboard packaging plants in Beaverton and Portland, Ore. Previously, he was area sales manager for the Oregon and southwest Washington [...]

When prospective customers tour Bay Cities Container, a corrugated sheet plant in Los Angeles, seven out of 10 place an order for boxes. Brett Kirkpatrick, vice president of operations, attributes [...]

In an unprecedented move, Paul Vishny, legal counsel for the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters (AICC), is sending a letter' to AICC box making members soliciting information about unfair trade [...]

In a show of three, about 200 manufacturers from across the country, including 11 corrugated converters, gathered last week in Washington D.C. to lobby Congress for changes that would make [...]

About four years ago, Edward 'Ned' Hill started learning more about manufacturing in the United States. The Cleveland State University, professor says the productivity, numbers were fascinating. From 1990 to [...]

The European Union (EU) has drafted a list of U.S. imports that includes paper and paperboard packaging products on which it is threatening to impose 100 percent import duties. This [...]

Recently, Wal-Mart and the U.S. Department of Defense issued a request for their suppliers to comply with certain supply chain protocol. Wal-Mart is requesting that its top 100 vendors start [...]

The Sunburst Coffin from Packaging Innovators Corp., Livenmore, Calif., received the Judge's Choice award at the 11th International Corrugated Packaging Design Competition, sponsored by the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters [...]

In June, Anton Schiffenhaus, chairman of Schiffenhaus Industries, Newark, N.J., celebrated his 50th year in the corrugated box making business. He says the experience has been a roller coaster of [...]

Corrugated container plants across North America are confronting a 'new normal' in the everyday challenges that they face, says Jay Wertheimer, chairman of the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters (AICC). [...]

Despite the stranglehold that current business conditions have on North American corrugated converters, Jim Haglund, president of Central Container Corp., Minneapolis, sees a silver lining. Earlier this month, Haglund gave [...]

Successful companies share some common traits in their portfolio of winning strategies. The managers of these companies are generally innovative, creative, and trustworthy, and possess a keen vision for the [...]

Earlier this year, Harry Voss, chairman of the National Paperbox Association (NPA) visited five box plants in China. 'I was astonished at how much packaging there was that I had [...]

The No. 1 concern among board converters in the U.S. today is the relocation of their customers to cheaper overseas manufacturing facilities, primarily in Asia. Almost every converter interviewed for [...]

Salt Lake City, the home of the 2002 Winter Olympics, was a fitting venue for this year's Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) meeting, which was aptly themed, 'Reaching New Heights.' The [...]

'If you looked at the fundamentals for this business, financially it ought to be a total fiasco right now,' says Mark Wilde, managing director, Deutsche Bank Securities. 'The industry has [...]

How does an independent corrugated converter make a profit in this difficult business climate? By keeping close tabs on key processes, says Roy Allen, chairman and ceo of Buckeye Corrugated [...]

Agnati America, Inc. is restructuring its sales and marketing efforts in North, Central and South America with the addition of personnel and a renewed emphasis on parts and machinery service. [...]

Following close on the heels of its acquisition of Ward Machinery, Barry-Wehmiller Companies, Inc. last week announced that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire the assets and [...]

Six months ago, Ferguson Supply & Box Mfg. Co., Charlotte, N.C., acquired a competing sheet plant. It was one of the best decisions the company ever made, says President Paige [...]

The containerboard industry's long-term trends are no longer an indication of what the future holds, says Patrick J. Moore, president and ceo of Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., Chicago. 'We are looking [...]

From a sales and earnings perspective, last year was a challenge for integrated companies in the corrugated container industry. On a year-to-date basis, corrugated shipments dropped 4.9 percent through November [...]

January 1 marked the beginning of a new year and the start of new OSHA record-keeping standards. Earlier this month, members of the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters (AICC) participated [...]

Prior to Sept. 11, Peter Moore of Moore Packaging says he was 'pumped up' about the future. 'Now I don't really know what's going to happen.' A subject on many [...]

Focused on increasing productivity and reducing costs for board converters, Alliance Machine Systems International, LLC, Spokane, Wash., last week introduced its new ALF Max automatic load former. The company invited [...]

Business is back,' says Bernhard Schreier, chairman of the management board of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, just a few days into drupa 2004. This comment was echoed by many who attended the [...]

U.S. board converters compete with Chinese box makers on two levels--cost and time. In the category of cost, China has a definite advantage, says Al Hoodwin of Michigan City Paper [...]

Folding carton converters worldwide watched the first run of the new Alpina II folder-gluer last week at three Bobst facilities. About 40 people attended the U.S. introduction at Bobst Group, [...]

Operating under a dome of stringent customer demands and a sluggish economy have forced many companies in the board converting industry to close their doors or to be acquired. In [...]

'You can't keep doing the same old thing,' says Joseph Pine, a keynote speaker at last month's Association of Independent Corrugated Converters (AICC) meeting in San Francisco. Pine specializes in [...]

For 20 years, Sebring Container Corp., a family owned sheet plant in Salem, Ohio, struggled with the tabs that hang onto corrugated boxes as they run through printer-slotters and flexo [...]

What do Anheuser Busch, Ford Motor Co., and Cargill, Inc., all have in common? They're multi-billion dollar, publicly traded corporations that are family-controlled. In fact, about 89 percent of all [...]

This year is shaping up to be better than 2002 for Latin American converters. 'Recovery is in the air,' says David Ashe, ceo and president of B2Bportales, Inc. 'Latin America [...]

The combination of the loss of purchasing relationships, competition from plastics and rising imports from China are creating 'The Perfect Storm' in the folding carton and rigid box industry, says [...]