Kruger Packaging’s Legacy (CONT’D FROM PAGE 40)
produce 2.4 billion square feet per year of 100 percent re- cycled corrugated product, which consists largely of pack- aging for the consumer goods markets, including food and beverage – approximately 50 percent of its output is pizza boxes – and e-commerce segment. Kruger Packaging sells its predominantly lightweight 18# to 20# containerboard and packaging products to
the company makes it a priority to replace older machines with newer ones to increase production and efficiencies. To that end, two old Langstons from the 1960s and 1970s, respectively, have been removed and a yet-to-be-deter- mined new flexo folder gluer will likely fill the space by 2025. Other recent projects include updates to the starch room, boiler room and compressor. “We’re constantly working on our efficiencies, it’s sim- ply part of our ongoing competitiveness,” adds Gingras. “We are definitely in ‘growth mode’ and keeping up with the ongoing expansion of our group’s business. We’re not necessarily into high graphics and we don’t do digital, but we continue to maximize our efficiencies in the brown box market, especially in ‘Etown,’ where e-commerce is driving much of the growth. It’s a great location and a very impres- sive operation. We’ve been heading in the right direction for the past year-and-a-half since its successful startup.” Excellence In Etown Kruger’s $142 million investment in Etown has catapult- ed the facility into becoming one of the most advanced and highly automated in North America; it is Kruger Pack- aging’s first facility in the United States and provides sig- nificant market expansion beyond the Canadian border. Located about 30 miles south of Louisville, Kentucky, and easy overland access to many major U.S. cities, when ful- ly operational is expected to employ more than 150 and
many independents in the Northeast and Midwest, as far south as Georgia and as far west as Texas. Its sales model, according to Côté, is based on not having two or three very large accounts but many smaller accounts. “This strategy CONTINUED ON PAGE 46 Kruger’s newest facility in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, or ‘Etown,’ is one of the most advanced and highly automated in North America.
We’ve got our customers covered… …with our fiberglass backed, boltless, full double-wide blankets and an extensive inventory of corrugated parts needed by virtually every box plant in the country. The innovator of the original fiberglass-backed knuckle locking anvil cover, Stafford is the industry’s go-to source for everything corrugated. TM
www.go2stafford.com 800-282-5787 IS THE MANUFACTURER OF STAFFORD ANVIL COVERS ®
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www.boardconvertingnews.com
April 8, 2024
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