McElroy Packaging (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1)
for Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) in neighbor- ing Rittman, and when the company moved 35 miles west to Ashland, he went on his own and began assembling and packing point-of-purchase displays for PCA and var- ious packaging jobs for Newell Brands’ Rubbermaid Divi- sion. Steve McElroy remembers the tenuous nature of the small company’s early customer base: “There was always a standing joke that one phone call could put us out of business, and two weeks before I graduated from college, they got that one phone call.”
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The jolt forced the McElroys to focus on what was then only a small part of their business: corrugated. “We always dabbled in corrugated as a result of do- ing business with Rubbermaid,” he said. “One day my dad walked in and said, ‘I’m getting rid of every bit of contract packaging that we’ve got, and we’re going to either live or die on corrugated!’” Investing To Meet A ‘Hyper-Competitive’ Market The State of Ohio’s manufacturing sector is the third largest in the country, trailing only California and Texas. The state is one of the largest producers of plastics, rub- ber products, fabricated metals, electrical equipment, and appliances, and is the second largest producer of automo- biles, after Michigan. This rich industrial market has attract- ed many corrugated box manufacturers, creating a highly competitive landscape. When McElroy Packaging jumped into this fray, it was with what Steve McElroy called a “crappy” printer slotter and a General gluer. “Our maximum quantity was 200,” he remembered. The company operated in that mode for McElroy Packaging chose the Alliance High-Speed Topfeeder prefeeder for the EMBA 295.
Corrugated boxes make the world go ‘round in a truly circular motion. The industry’s long-standing commitment to sustainability adds up to an incredible 50% per unit
reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions for an average corrugated box from 2006 – 2020, and we’re still improving. Learn more about the renewability, recyclability and responsibility of boxes at: https://www.fibrebox.org/life-cycle-assessments.
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June 23, 2025
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