Hard Realities Don't Soften Green Bay

摘要

In the past eight years, Green Bay Packaging's folding carton plant in Green Bay, Wis., has experienced a remarkable customer base transformation. In 1994, most of its clients made ice cream. Today, less than 5 percent of the plant's customers make frozen treats. How did this occur? One of its customers was Haeagen Dazs. However, when Pillsbury Co. bought this premium ice cream producer, that business disappeared. Gold Bond was another ice cream maker that Green Bay served. Good Humor bought that company. Breyers closed its plants in Wisconsin and Sealright, which bought printed sidewalls from Green Bay, was sold to a private labeler. "We've evolved into a custom carton manufacturer," says Rich Garber, the 100,000-square-foot plant's vice president and general manager. "Our charter is to sell to as many markets as possible. This increases our market exposure." Today, many of the ISO-9001-certified plant's customers are in dry foods and confectioneries. Its 100 employees also make cartons for the beverage, hardware, paper, and publishing industries, among others. "Everything is customer-driven," says Garber, when asked how he has been able to adapt. "Our customers want real-time information. We find ourselves doing vendor-managed inventory for almost all of them."