Packaging Express (CONT’D FROM PAGE 40)
make a difference to our employees and their families.” In the spirit of education, Davis took three of his Emba operators – Gerardo Silva, TJ Hallett and Andre Brown – on an all-expense-paid, first-class trip to Emba’s head- quarters and manufacturing facility in Örebro, Sweden, to see where and how its world-class machinery is made and to learn directly from Emba’s engineers and operators. “It was a life-changing and career-altering experience for all of us and well worth the investment in our employees, who will continue to pay dividends for years,” says Davis. Packaging Express’s operators also received training stateside at L&M Corrugated Container in Wisconsin, and CalBox in California, plants in non-competitive markets with similar machinery who were considerate enough to open their doors to fellow independents in the spirit of sharing their knowledge and experiences. “We’re so thankful to our fellow independents who were nice enough to let us into their state-of-the-art facil- ities so we can learn from their operators,” says Andrew Bell, Senior Account Executive at Packaging Express, and by no coincidence, Matt Davis’s cousin’s son and first member of the family’s fourth generation to join the com- pany. “Yes, we might’ve lost some production time here while our guys were away but the knowledge that they brought back with them is invaluable. For example, after talking with an operator at CalBox, one of our operators re- alized we weren’t using enough suction in the slot scoring CONTINUED ON PAGE 44
beneficiaries of a “really neat” profit-sharing program. “We are very careful with our words, it’s not a bonus be- cause a bonus implies that it’s a gift, and it is not a gift, it’s earned. We give a check to our employees based on the
company’s profitability – we’ve never not been profitable and we’ve never not shared the pie at the end of the year – and the check is significant,” insists Davis. “It’s not a gift card to Best Buy, it’s an amount of money that can really From left, Emba operators TJ Hallet, Andre Brown and Gerardo Silva with Andrew Bell on a cruise during the team’s visit to Emba’s facility in Sweden.
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September 9, 2024
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