Meeting the Needs of Independent Corrugators

Corrugated packaging has become one of US manufacturing’s most recognizable products: on an average day, UPS alone delivers more than 22 million packages across America. According to the Fiber Box Association, corrugated packaging and displays is a $35.5 billion a year industry in the US. Thanks to growing reliance on e-commerce; consumer pressure for sustainable packaging; and packaging innovation across many sectors, the demand for corrugated is expected to continue growing.

This volume relies on more than 1,100 corrugated manufacturing sites in large and small towns across the country. The industry is highly localized and split between large-scale production and smaller, independent boxmakers. The needs of super-sites—like Graphic Packaging’s state-of-the-art plant in Kalamazoo, MI, which produces about 500,000 tpy of coated recycled board—differ widely from those of smaller, family-owned producers.

In an exclusive interview for the Paper360° podcast Better Together: Conversations with Innovative Leaders, host Jan Bottiglieri spoke about this challenge with Christine Little, director of sales, corrugated machinery, for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group (MHI). MHI is one of the world’s leading industrial groups, spanning energy, smart infrastructure, industrial machinery, and more; its Corrugated Machinery Division offers leading-edge equipment systems, sales, parts, and technical and field support.

The interview, which has been augmented and edited for publication, was conducted in person at SuperCorrExpo©, the once-every-four-years corrugated industry exhibit and conference, in Orlando, FL, in September, 2024.

Better Together: Christine, you were telling me that MHI, while always an innovative company, is focusing on innovation in a different way this year.

MHI: Yes! We’re trying to explore what makes us different. Why are we a different machinery company than anybody else out there? Obviously, we feel our equipment makes us different. We’re particularly excited about our MC-100 Flexo folder gluer and our MPF pre-feeder, and we have had successful installations within the last year.

Yet we are also focusing on what we’re calling the “Declaration of the Independents.” We’re looking at the independent market a little differently and we’re trying to educate them about how MHI is different—we are interested in catering to what they really need, not just throwing out a service program developed around what we think they need.

For instance, we have a new Production Improvement Program (PIP). When it started, we were more standardized; we would tell customers, “We are going to do this.” That has evolved into offering to let the customer choose—we can look at maintenance, or we can concentrate more on education or training. We’ll tailor the program to whatever that customer needs, as often as they need it. I think that’s going to make more of a difference for independent box companies than for larger box companies.

Corrugated is one of the few major manufacturing industries where there are still a really large number of smaller, independent companies that are very successful being independent, but that may be missing out on some of the bigger picture stuff from suppliers like MHI.

Right. MHI is known for equipment that really works for the larger companies, to help them keep producing more square footage, and we’re not moving away from that. We think our equipment can be a good fit for some of the smaller, independent corrugators as well—but how are we going to treat them differently?

The answer is usually in service and being responsive. We need to be there holding hands the entire journey.

You told me that you’ve had some recent installations of some of this equipment. What have you learned from customers? What do they need?

Well, everybody’s different, right? But we have learned that most independents need more resources or help from their OEMs than the integrated plants do—whether that is additional engineering, training, or anything else. We want them to be successful, so we apply more resources to get them there. Also, we’re really exploring AI from our service standpoint and within our call center. I think it will help us be better in the long run if we implement AI in some form.

Do you think there is a particular role for AI with an independent corrugator?

Yes, I think so—if you use it for the right reasons. Independents are going to have labor issues, just like anybody else or maybe more so. If you can use AI for automation, to make implementing it a little bit easier for everyone, then I do think it has a place in, for instance, even a small, family-owned company. They’re not going to have the same needs that a large integrated manufacturer would have, but there’s still some form that they will benefit from.

For every corrugator, their customer base, their specialties, their culture, everything is a little bit different. So what is the common thread? For these smaller companies—whether it’s the second, third, or whatever generation is still running the company—often, it’s that they will do the hard stuff. They will go that extra mile. They appreciate their customers in a different way.

So in a way, you’re trying to mirror that culture back at them, right?

Absolutely. We felt that, for these companies to understand MHI, we had to replicate that attitude.

Independents are often the ones who can and will take on the difficult or time-consuming box orders. We can help them with these types of orders by analyzing if the orders can run on a MHI Flexo, how to run it, if any special tooling is needed, and how fast they can have the machine set—all to make sure they’re getting their optimal output. We can cater a training program for the independent box company to ensure they are running their machine at the highest productivity overall. We also have been asked to provide training programs that are not on 1st shift, but rather during 2nd or 3rd shift, so the operators don’t need to adjust their schedules. All of these are just a few examples of doing things a little differently.

What do you see ahead for MHI’s customers in the corrugated industry?

I think it’s important for corrugators to stay innovative. On our side, we will focus on helping them out with their unique problems: whether that’s making it easier for them to run with less maintenance, reducing their total cost of ownership, or helping boost that bottom line.

First and foremost, we need to listen to the customer. Everybody is different. I would love to have a cookie cutter machine that I have ready to go and every customer can buy the exact same thing … but not everybody wants the same thing. Listening to what every customer needs, I think, is going to be very important to everyone’s longevity.

Keep those communication lines open, be transparent, and remember that, at the end of the day, it’s a partnership. I want to have a partnership with my suppliers! I want my customers to feel valued in the same way.