The complete package: all Packaging Co. crafts unparalleled structural designs, fashioning its customers a distinctive design solution

Paperboard Packaging, Dec, 2003 by Esther Durkalski

Aurora, Colo.-based All Packaging Co. has shaped itself around the niche of value-added accounts--customers who demand high levels of quality and have a lot of complexity in their work. The company, based in a Denver suburb, has won more than 130 design awards in the last 13 years alone, positioning itself as one of the top structural design folding carton converters.

The company touts itself as providing quicker turnaround and a higher quality product than anything produced in Asia. To do that, All Packaging has invested heavily in equipment to fulfill that aim. "There isn't much modern technology we haven't implemented," All Packaging President Ken Pepper says.

Despite the waning business climate, All Packaging has managed to continue its trend of increasing sales. Sales were up 12 percent this year, down from the increases of 20 percent for each of the last two years. "We continue to grow very consistently," Pepper says. The company's diverse clients give the company some security--if they lose one customer, it won't destroy the business.

All Packaging primarily ships to the Western United States and Mexico. The corridor to Mexico is growing rapidly for the company. Last year, All Packaging lost one of its biggest customers to China. While it definitely hurt the company, All Packaging was still able to grow. Pepper credits that to the company's goal of gaining work that generally can't be exported--complex, intricate, structurally difficult cartons.

"One of our largest customers has 90 different SKUs while the other largest has around 75 SKUs and the copy changes all the time," Pepper says.

Before Pepper bought All Packaging in 1984, he was involved in his family's meat business. All Packaging is the result of a merger between two smaller folding carton businesses, both established in the 1940s. The company was located in an old postal annex building in downtown Denver, which was inefficient to say the least, Pepper says. The company moved to its current 65,000-square-foot facility in 1990.

Today, All Packaging has 80 employees who operate the plant six days a week, working 13-hour shifts, which has helped the company retain skilled employees, says Manufacturing Manager Patricia Peterson.

The company has a unique format for its operations. It has three manufacturing or production managers, each focused on a different area of expertise. James Caro and

Terrence Price are the other manufacturing managers. The company has used this style for four years. Peterson says All Packaging has developed more because of this team approach. "It allows us a lot of creativity," she says. "It lets us concentrate on the areas each of us is good at."

The management approach also allows the managers to regularly attend training sessions and visit customers or suppliers to view the latest technology without the worries of leaving the plant unattended.

The company uses only internally generated employees--nearly everyone in the company started at the bottom and worked their way through the ranks. For example, Chief Technology Officer Curtis Hilsinki started at All Packaging 12 years ago as an unskilled laborer in the finishing department. He then worked in the die department, then became a structural designer before moving into the technology side of the company.

"All Packaging gives opportunities to any employee who wants to grow," Hilsinki says.

The company has a very low turnover rate with employees averaging 10 years of service. "That speaks to the fact that they like working here and we have a lot of loyalty to each other," Pepper says.

"There are constantly new ideas being conceived and shaped and increased growth and upgrades," Peterson says. Along with that expansion comes amplified employee training. "We invest a lot in training," she says. "Ken knows the benefits of having the newest technology and the experienced, trained personnel to use it."

Understanding Value

"We've gained the reputation of a quality (packaging) house," Peterson says.

Due to consistent growth, All Packaging has been able to buy the new equipment it has wanted, including its new 40-inch, six-color Mitsubishi printing press to join its older six-color Mitsubishi press. The press can print specialty hybrid inks with inline UV coating.

The new press has conventional and UV dryers and is able to cure ink after each unit. At 12,000 sheets per hour, it speeds up All Packaging's turnaround time. All of the company's business is custom just-in-time work, says Manufacturing Manager Caro, a 22-year industry veteran.

All Packaging recently implemented Amtech's E-Motion system, giving its customers 24-hour access to a database, which allows them to view the status of their jobs, specifications on the account and to track the shipping information.

All Packaging customers can proof designs online via its Web site, which is an enormous benefit in the shrinking global marketplace. "It has streamlined the entire design process," Hilsinki says. Streamlining is a fundamental part of the business. All Packaging keeps an extensive flow chart documenting each step that goes into creating a box. The objective of the chart is to eliminate handoffs, thus "seeing what and where we can do things better," Hilsinki says. One of All Packaging's biggest customers is located in Japan, with the marketing office in California and the manufacturing facility in Mexico. All