"Whether the economy picks up or not, we're growing." That sums up the upbeat attitude of Don Larsen III, president of Larsen Converting Industries, Green Bay, WI. A breezy confidence permeates the converter's plant, and employees seem to take their cue from Larsen himself—who favors polka-dotted ties and sported a reindeer hat for a recent visitor.

Larsen Converting is a fun place to work these days. It's not just that the paper converter, who just ventured into the web business five years ago, set four consecutive monthly sales records in 2001, boosting its business 30 percent in a challenging year. It's not just that they've installed their fifth flexo press in that five-year span. It's not just that the hometown Packers are having another great year.

What sets Larsen apart is a tightknit group of experienced printers who pride themselves on impeccable customer service, and feel upbeat about the converting industry in general and their own prospects in particular. Their enthusiasm is infectious.

"The economy is firming up," says Larsen, a local business veteran who gathered a handpicked core staff and now boasts about 30 employees. "We're expanding into paper party goods and medical materials, and we have a lot to offer—including fast turnaround, high quality and, most of all, customer service." Savvy business sense has led Larsen managers to emphasize both customer service and operational excellence—and to formulate a business plan that includes training all employees toward those two objectives.

"The thing that impresses us the most about the new flexo line is that it was rated to run at 1500 ft./min., and it actually runs finished goods consistently at that speed," says Dan Aberly, Larsen's vice president of manufacturing.

The newest line features a two-color 76-inch flexo press, unwind, rewind and overhead gas dryer, and was built and customized for the company by Retroflex Inc., Wrightstown, WI.

Retroflex, well-known for supplying custom-designed equipment retrofits for flexographic printers, built the entire line according to Larsen's instructions. "We have a good relationship with Retroflex, who had performed retrofits and doctor-blade support, and they really did a great installation job for us," says Larsen. "From purchase order to production was about seven months. With our fifth printing press now in place, we're positioned to carry out our strategies for growth in our core printing markets." The converter's bagmaking equipment—which represents their original business and is still a mainstay for them—was moved to a second nearby facility to make room for the Retroflex line.

Larsen's business is paper converting—specifically, paper flexpacks, tissue and towel overwrap, and, increasingly, party goods and table covers. The company's targets for the new press are the foodservice, industrial and party-goods markets.

An aggressive competitor, Larsen has been known to point out for prospective customers the printing flaws on their products printed by other converters, and explain how Larsen printing processes will boost that quality.

A wide variety of paper substrates and basis weights—from 9 lb. MF to 90 lb. coated kraft—present a technical challenge for the Retroflex line in terms of web tension, printing, and shear slitting. According to Aberly, the new line is meeting that daily challenge.

Allen-Bradley touchscreen controls allow precise monitoring of the line, and another custom feature installed with the new system is an automated GSE ink-dispensing system featuring computerized batching for quick turnaround and top consistency from job to job. "The consistency of the GSE ink-mixing system makes our jobs extremely repeatable—another component of operational excellence," says Aberly.

Another telltale sign of the operating efficiency and quality of the new line is the following statistic: Larsen has run 22 million lineal feet of product from just one set of plates on the line.

The term "operating excellence" isn't just a management buzzword at Larsen. Employees are trained in flexographic techniques, both internally and through such programs as the Basic Flexo curriculum at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton. "Our philosophy on training is: 1) Learn, 2) Understand, 3) Improve, and 4) Teach," says Larsen. They get by with with fewer operators per press than their competitors, and also are proud of the fact that some 700 roll sleeves give plant personnel a high degree of scheduling flexibility, as well as quick changeover. Larsen operators also take advantage of supplier seminars to learn more about anilox rolls, inks, etc. Senior executives are involved with local business groups, learning about Best Practices they can use back at the plant. Also on the horizon is customer service training at the Disney Institute. "They have something to teach us about handling customers, I think," comments Larsen.

Front-office order entry, scheduling, etc. are also continuously improving. While customer service personnel now use, for instance, daily e-mails to keep customers up-to-date on the status of complicated orders, Larsen managers want to set up an extranet system to enable customers to access order status via the Web.

So, whether the economy picks up sooner or later, and whether or not the Green Bay Packers make it to another Super Bowl, look for Larsen Converting to have another great year. Attitude shows.