Board Converting News, January 4, 2021

Board Converting News, January 4, 2021

BoardConverting Serving the North American Corrugated and Folding Carton Industries for 37 years January 4, 2021 VOL. 37, NO. 1

SMC Packaging Group Undergoes Major Expansion BY JACKIE SCHULTZ Southern Missouri Containers, Inc. (SMC Packaging Group) is complet- ing the final phase of a major expansion and relocation of its Spring- field, Missouri operation, consolidating six facilities into two buildings and adding several pieces of high-speed converting equipment. Springfield is the flagship location of SMC Packaging Group, a closely held and employee owned corrugated company with 500 total

EEOC Presents Mandatory Vaccine Guidance As the largest inoculation effort in human his- tory kicked off in December, the EEOC provid- ed guidance on mandatory employee vacci- nations. According to NAM Director of Labor and Employment Policy, Drew Schneider, the EEOC allows employers to require employees to take the vaccine, so long as the company meets requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Genetic Information Non- discrimination Act. Equal employment laws still apply during the pandemic, but the EEOC states that they “do not interfere with or prevent employers from following the guidelines and sugges- tions made by the CDC or state/local pub- lic health authorities about steps employers should take regarding COVID-19.” “If an employee is unable to take the vac- cine due to a disability, an employer may only exclude the employee from the workplace if that worker presents a ‘direct threat’ to other workers and the employer is unable to pro- vide a reasonable accommodation to the em- ployee that would eliminate or reduce the risk to other employees,” says Schneider. Visit nam.org for more information.

employees and 326 in Springfield. Since its founding in 1972 SMC has grown to four locations across the Midwest, in Kansas City and Spring- field, Missouri; Conway, Arkansas; and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Springfield has a diversified customer base serving food and bever- age, light industrial, e-commerce, subscription services, retail, displays, automotive and other box plants and distributors. It has experienced significant growth over the years, nearly doubling sales volume in the last five years, prompting the need for more space. The company had occupied its 160,000-square-foot building since 1974. However, the addition of converting equipment and a 98-inch Fosber corrugator cre- ated space and production constraints to a point where machines had to be periodically shut down because there was no more room for WIP. “We eventually expanded into other facilities for storage, design, and The SMC Board of Directors, foreground from left, Matt Ausburn, VP of Fi- nance; Kevin Ausburn, Chairman/CEO; Randy Bachus, Executive Vice Pres- ident; Rich Bachus, President; and Mark McNay, Sr. VP – General Manager, along with the crew and maintenance in front of the company’s new six-col- or rotary diecutter.

WHAT’S INSIDE

6 x x 8 x x 12 x x 26 x x Hello Fresh: Hundreds Of Millions Of Meals And Boxes 12 FBA’s 2020 Year In Review: Pandemic Takes Center Stage 20 AICC Virtual Plant Tour At Dusobox A Success 3 Metsa Board Partners On Bins For Disposal Of Face Masks

CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

AVERAGE CONTAINERBOARD PRICES The average prices reported are tabulated from prices PAID by various sources throughout the United States the week previous to issue. Prices in some areas of the country may be higher or lower than the tabulated average. The prices tabulated here are intended only for purposes of reference. They do not connote any commitment to sell any material at the indi- cated average. Transactions may be completed at any time at a price agreed upon by seller and purchaser.

REGION E. Coast Midwest Southeast Southwest

42# Kraft liner $885.00-890.00 $900.00-910.00 $900.00-910.00 $900.00-910.00 $930.00-940.00 $903.00-912.00

26# Semi-Chem. Medium

Short Ton Del. Short Ton Del. Short Ton Del. Short Ton Del. Short Ton Del. Short Ton Del.

$820.00-850.00 $835.00-855.00 $835.00-855.00 $835.00-855.00 $865.00-875.00 $838.00-858.00

West Coast U.S. Average

SHEET PRICES BY REGION (AVERAGE) Per 1MSF, local delivery included, 50MSF single item order, truckload delivery. Sheets

E. Coast Midwest South-SW S. CA N.CA/WA-OR US Aver.

200# 275#

$62.26

$72.05

$62.69 $82.80

$85.35 119.54

$73.13 101.29

97.32

99.89

90.86

113.65

OYSTER UP-CHARGE 8.34

8.34

8.34

8.34

8.34

8.34

275# DBL-WALL 350# DBL-WALL

107.46 118.45

114.69 129.32

116.54 137.25 117.82 145.56

141.08

122.76

148.46

131.80

CANADIAN SHEET PRICES (AVERAGE) In Canadian Dollars, per 1MSF, local delivery included, under 50MSF single item order, truckload delivery. 200# 275# Oyster UC 275#DW 350#DW $78.56 $99.18 $9.00 $96.32 $105.83 CANADIAN LINERBOARD & MEDIUM The average prices reported are tabulated from prices PAID by various sources throughout Canada. Prices may be higher or lower in various areas of the country. The prices tabulated here are intended only for purposes of reference. They do not connote any commitment to sell any material at the indicated average. Transactions may be completed at any time at a price agreed upon by seller and purchaser. Prices are Canadian $ and per metric ton.

42# Kraft Liner 26#

Semi-Chem Medium

East West

$920.00 $965.00

$910.00 $945.00

AVERAGE CONTAINERBOARD PRICES.indd 1

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January 4, 2021

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AICC Opens Registration For Leadership Seminar

Core Competency

AICC, The Independent Packaging Association, has opened registration for Moving from CS Manager to Lead- er, a new webinar, Tuesday, January 26 at 2:00 p.m. EST, with Suzy Cummins, Facilitator, Next Gear Consulting. This webinar will help attendees build on their managerial skills to become seasoned leaders. Participants will learn tips and tools to proactively pur- sue and create change opportunities, influence and inspire their teams, and create a vision for their organizations. Suzy Cummins is a versatile team leader and problem solver with 30 years of operations experience in the pa- per packaging industry. She has a diverse background in customer service, quality and process improvement, lean manufacturing, HR, Safety, and policy development. She builds cross-functional teams, demonstrates exceptional communication, and models critical decision-making skills. As a systems thinker she is able to lead and teach with awareness of a strategic macro view, and the judgement to dig in to the detail as needed. Registration for Moving from CS Manager to Leader is $250 for members and $500 for non-members. This we- binar is part of the All Access Pass. Pass holders can use their promo code to register at no additional cost. Visit www.AICCbox.org/Calendar to register.

BloApCo Floor Shredders easily handle Cores and Sheet Waste

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See the video at : BloApCo.com/horizontal-floor-shredder

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© Blower Application Company, Inc., Germantown, WI 2020

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January 4, 2021

A Century of Innovation In Every Machine Celebrating 100 Years: 1920-2020

FALCON 2-minute run-to-run times and world-class production @ 21K/HR

IBIS 2-minute run-to-run times and total product flexibility @ 15K/HR

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Hello Fresh: Hundreds Of Millions Of Meals And Just As Many Boxes In the third quarter of 2020 alone, HelloFresh delivered more than 162 million meals to over five million active cus- tomers and the company is continuously working on im- proving its product to win over even more customers. One of the many things on its agenda for continuous improve- ment are its boxes and packaging materials. Thomas Regenhardt, Head of Packaging at Hello Fresh, explained how his team deals with the different challeng- es around packaging, the company’s achievements and its plans for the future. “HelloFresh does not operate a standard e-commerce system in which packaging is used exclusively to bring a product safely to customers,” said Regenhardt. “Our busi- ness model is very difficult to duplicate. We have to select

packaging under completely different conditions and as- pects than other companies. Sometimes we even have to develop it ourselves. Our philosophy is to use packaging as sustainably, efficiently and consciously as possible. We

focus on a mix of consistent quality, envi- ronmental friendliness and functionality. Especially the latter is a continuous devel- opment process because we need to trans- port fresh ingredients. From tomatoes, cu- cumbers, rice and pasta to various types of meat, both thermal and sensory properties must be taken into account to provide our customers with the best possible freshness for their HelloFresh recipes.” According to Regenhardt, here are three basic challenges in packaging develop- ment: Dynamics, Temperature and Insula- tion. Dynamics: “At HelloFresh we offer our customers different recipes and add-ons each week, which means that there will al- ways be different requirements concerning packaging. In order to approach this in a >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40

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