Menasha Corp. (CONT’D FROM PAGE 26)
Board Converting NEWS INTERNET DIRECTORY
manufacturing base shifted to lower-cost manufacturing environments. “We really started with what was going to stay in the U.S., and we decided that we were going to focus on food, personal care, and household products in a big way as our core market segments,” he says. The company has engineered a finely tuned system of printing and graphics application, from direct print, litho-lamination, preprinted linerboard, and sheet-fed dig- ital—what Riegsecker calls “integrated services and verti- cal integration of the way we apply graphics to corrugated or other material.” From its graphics houses to its finishing operations, product is shipped to one of its 32 service fa- cilities for final packing and delivery to retailers. Menasha considers the customer’s entire supply chain, and its introduction of automated systems drives costs out of the chain for their direct customers and their customers’ customers. Says Riegsecker, “We asked ourselves, ‘Could we become part of a revenue conversation with our cus- tomers versus just a cost conversation?’ And we started to develop relationships, and we now have offices next to the major retailers all over the U.S.” Menasha’s commitment to its customers and their retail customers began in earnest in the early 2000s. The com- pany, under the newly minted leadership of President Mike Waite, was still seen as a commodity brown-box supplier. To counter this, writes Shaw in Living Our Values, “Waite and his team established the Retail Integration Institute (RII), a strategic merchandising consultancy housed within Menasha Packaging. “The intent behind RII was to create a mechanism for co-developing merchandising solutions with customers, wiring packaging’s value proposition more tightly to its customers’ needs and goals.” Visitors to Menasha Corp.’s Neenah headquarters will find their way to the RII showroom, where the company’s retail promotion expertise is on full display for primary mar- ket segments such as food and beverage, personal care, pharmaceutical, and automotive aftermarkets, among many others. According to Shaw in Living Our Values, Menasha’s first successful project in RII was with the H.J. Heinz Company (now Kraft-Heinz). Ketchup and mustard were profitable for Heinz, but pickle relish was not. “On RII’s advice,” Shaw writes, “Heinz created the now-familiar ‘picnic pack,’ a bundle of ready-to-go ketch- up, mustard, and relish sold at chains like Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Costco. The solution increased the package’s appeal, saved Heinz about $500,000, and generated re- cord sales.” While a success for Heinz, it was a significant learning experience for Menasha. Riegsecker, recalling the case, says, “We didn’t understand all the cost drivers, what the costs were of holding the merchandise, and how to price it.” All these, he now says, are at the heart of Menasha’s continuous effort to improve efficiencies by enlisting auto-
THE HAIRE GROUP www.hairegroup.com
Haire Group is the premier provider of new machinery for the corrugated industry. From the Apstar line of flexo folder gluers and rotary die cutters, the Encore line of flexo folder gluers and rotary die cutters, and the Engico flexo folder glu- er, Haire is able to pair clients with the best machinery solu- tions for the best value to meet their needs. Haire Group’s service department helps its customers maximize uptime and profitability through superior 24/7 service and support, a pre-install training center, and over a million dollars’ worth of spare parts at their offices just outside of Chicago. Haire Group has been the industry’s #1 pre-owned machinery bro- ker and plant equipment appraiser since 1976. HarperLove is the leading provider of specialty adhesives, performance additives, and wet-strength resins to corru- gated packaging manufacturers. With the largest and most experienced field service and technical support team posi- tioned throughout the U.S. and Latin America, HarperLove has a long-standing reputation for providing outstanding service and delivering demonstrable performance improve- ments. HarperLove’s renowned services include not only innovative product development and custom product for- mulation, but also machine and process assessments, ad- hesive formula adjustments, machine tuning, detailed ser- vice reporting, and more. HARPERLOVE www.HarperLove.com Kernic Systems has been a leading global provider of re- cycling equipment solutions since 1978. For over 40 years, Kernic Systems has provided balers, air conveying and dust collection systems, shredders, industrial vacuums, and re- cycling equipment to a wide range of markets. Today, Ker- nic Systems serves customers with an expanded offering of standard products and custom-engineered systems through three primary business divisions: Recycling Solu- tions, Dust Collection and Air Pollution Control, and Material Handling. Kiwiplan provides state-of-the-art software solutions to cor- rugated, folding carton, plastics and flexible packaging fa- cilities around the globe. Kiwiplan’s Total Solution delivers comprehensive, seamless real-time flow of information from sales order management to dynamic total plant scheduling and inventory control through shipping. With deep manu- facturing and distribution expertise, Kiwiplan knows the specific problems customers face and provides the spe- cialized software they need to adapt, compete, and win in today's rapidly changing world. KERNIC SYSTEMS www.kernicsystems.com KIWIPLAN www.kiwiplan.com
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December 9, 2024
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