Southern Carton Co. (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1)
“Everybody here is so focused on the customer, what- ever the customer needs,” David says. “Our unwritten motto is underpromise and overdeliver. Once a customer comes on board with us, they seldom leave.” Connor adds that Southern Carton’s service ethos is grounded in what he calls a “servant” mentality. “We have a great sales team, and they’re all servants at heart,” he says. “They have a job to do, it’s true, but at the same time, they really just enjoy helping people. And I would say that about all our employees.” The geographic reach of Southern Carton’s servant philosophy extends in a 130-mile arc from southern Ken- tucky in the north to northern Alabama in the south. Lo- cated about 45 miles south of Nashville off Interstate 65, Southern Carton’s central Tennessee location makes all these market areas an easy reach. Historically, David says, the pencil business dominated the local economies in the 1970s. “There were, like, nine pencil companies because cedar is so plentiful here and that’s what they were made of; there were pencil factories everywhere. Now, there are two,” he says. The biggest economic shift to occur in the mid-South states since that time is the arrival of the auto industry. Be- ginning in the early 2000s, the region saw more than $10 billion in direct investment not only from legacy carmakers such as Ford and GM but also newcomers such as Toyota, Hyundai, Volkswagen, and BMW. More recently, the region
David explains that the little company’s immediate suc- cess soon forced the acquisition of faster equipment. “Like everybody in this business, one thing leads to another, and soon he says, ‘I need to find a taper or a gluer or a slitter.’ That leads to printer slotters, which leads to flexos, which leads to rotary die cutters—all of which we now have.” Expansion, Extension, Equipment Today, Southern Carton is a $20 million company pro- ducing 200-million-square-feet of product annually. Its 55 employees work a single shift in an 85,000-square-foot manufacturing facility with an additional 53,000 square feet of off-site finished-goods warehousing. A family enterprise from the start, Southern Carton is now in its third generation of ownership. Barbara Kenne- dy, David’s wife of 35 years, has been an integral part of the company’s growth and history as confidante, sounding board, and cheerleader. “Barbara and I discussed South- ern Carton business almost nightly at the dinner table,” says David, adding that because of those discussions, two of the Kennedy sons—Connor and Sean—said, “I want to do that,” and they now work in the business, with Connor serving as president and Sean in production. (The Kenne- dys’ daughter, Meredith, is a nurse practitioner, and their other son, Patrick, is an engineer.) The company’s values, as described by all the Kenned- ys, are “best in integrity, quality, and service.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
Serving the North American Corrugated and Folding Carton Industries Since 1985
Give your digital marketing campaign a boost! Leverage your message to your potential customers with the credibility of Board Converting News behind it. Sponsor a weekly Monday issue or we’ll send out an eblast any day of the week to our full online circulation. You provide the copy, images and link to a video or website and we’ll do the rest! Contact Len Prazych 518-366-9017 lprazych@nvpublications.com
24 April 3, 2023
www.boardconvertingnews.com
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online