“No man is an island...” wrote the 17th century English poet John Donne, and he certainly was correct, especially in the context of any successful business today.

This month we celebrate the achievements of our inaugural list of Converting Innovators—four companies we want to officially recognize as “doing well by doing good” for their customers, their employees, their communities and their markets. Thanks to the dozens of nominations submitted from suppliers and many converting-operation employees themselves, we were made aware of some outstanding business practices, technology investments and exceptional involvement in community and global programs by a host of converters.

From that group come our four winners for 2006—in basically large- and small-company categories. Rather than coasting on the good deeds of its corporate parent, Alcan Packaging took its Environmental Health & Safety FIRST program a step further, honoring advancements at the plant level. Kimberly-Clark followed a similar path, pushing lean manufacturing (and significant cost savings) down to 25 plant workshops. Along with innovative customer-service methods, Labeltronix has distinguished itself as a particularly good neighbor for those in need in Orange County, California. And Midwest Converting has become much more than just a helpful paper supplier and contract converter; its business model incorporating transportation and warehousing led to the start up of many new companies.

The 2006 Converting Innovators prove how you can build a thriving business, using creativity to benefit your company internally, while at the same time still be an excellent corporate citizen of the larger, outside world.

Keeping an “Eye on Sustainability:” With this issue, we introduce a new column covering the topic of sustainability (page 20). Leading off is Anne Johnson, director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, who will explain in succeeding columns the eight criteria that define what sustainable packaging truly is. Look for more presentations next year on what sustainability means to printing and other converting processes.

Also, Converting and our sister publication Packaging Digest are proud to be co-sponsors of the Intertech/Pira workshop and conference, “Sustainability in Packaging,” set for March 6-8, 2007, in Orlando, FL. More than 20 industry representatives will answer key questions for implementing sustainability through the right packaging decisions for CPGs, converters and their suppliers.