BoardConverting Serving the North American Corrugated and Folding Carton Industries for 38 years March 28, 2022 VOL. 38, NO. 13
Flying ‘Under The Radar,’ American Box Company Soars BY LEN PRAZYCH Until 2016, Shawnee, Kansas based American Box Company had, ac- cording to Vince Hayden, one of the company’s four owners, always flown “under the radar.” It was back then, fueled by new equipment purchases and subsequently, a change in ownership, the company be- gan branching out and expanding to new and unforeseen production heights.
ND Paper To Convert Paper Machine At Wisconsin Mill ND Paper, the U.S. subsidiary of Nine Drag- ons Paper (Holdings) Limited, is taking criti- cal steps to build on its growth in packaging products. At ND Paper’s Biron, Wisconsin mill, the company will be converting its B26 paper machine at the end of 2022 from coated me- chanical papers to lightweight, high-strength recycled packaging products. Today, the Biron Division, located in cen- tral Wisconsin, employs more than 300 full- time personnel and operates two paper production lines with a combined annual pro- duction capacity of approximately 530,000 short tons. Its B25 paper machine produces approximately 270,000 short tons annually of corrugating medium and linerboard for pack- aging applications, while the B26 machine produces approximately 260,000 short tons annually of lightweight coated mechanical (CM) papers for end uses like catalogs, maga- zines and retail inserts. Upon completion of the conversion, both the machine and the mill will have increased annual manufacturing capacity. The B26 ma- chine will have capacity for over 500,000 short tons of packaging paper, and the mill, in
American Box was originally founded as American Box & Tape Co. in November 1975, when two former co-workers from General Box Co. first opened its doors in North Kansas City, Missouri. With the partners’ nearly five decades of packaging experience and a burning desire to become a leader in Kansas City’s independent corrugated market, the company prospered and to this day, has some of its original “captive” core customers. Hayden, a son of one of the original two owners, purchased the company in summer of 2021 with Jeff Sharfstein, the former owner of Strive Group, which was purchased by Menasha eleven years ago, Ron Lemar of Rex Carton, and Garrett Bradley, formerly of Bennett Packag- ing, who is president of American Box Company. Hayden joined the company in 1995, when American Box was op- erating out of a 40,000-square-foot “landlocked” facility prior to mov- ing to its current location in Shawnee in 2014. Bradley, who had been with Bennett Packaging for 27 years, was selling capital equipment CONTINUED ON PAGE 24 Garrett Bradley, left, and Vince Hayden are two of four owners (the others are Jeff Sharfstein and Ron Lemar) of Shawnee, Kansas based American Box Company, which the group purchased last year.
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WHAT’S INSIDE SC Health Leaders Ask EPA To Take Action Against New Indy
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10 Huston Patterson, Sigma Graphics Merge With LPC
Pete Snyder Retires After 42 Years In Corrugated Industry 38 Forest Management Is Critical To Canada’s Packaging Industry
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