Converting Magazine

Mark Spaulding

Converter Roundtable snippets
May 28, 2008

Here's a preview of what the six outspoken converters had to say during our third AIMCAL Industry Roundtable held earlier this spring in Rancho Mirage, CA.

Left to right: Bill Stratton, vp/director of Lean Six Sigma for Adhesives Research (Glen Rock, PA); Bob Connelly, president/COO of Madico, Inc. (Woburn, MA); Steve Jackson, commercial director for Camvac, a division of Amcor Flexibles (Thetford, UK); Dante Ferrari, operations manager at Celplast Metallized Products (Toronto, Ontario, Canada); Pradeep Tyle, senior president of UFLEX, Ltd. (Noida, India); and Eric Maercklein, sales/marketing manager for the Coated Products Business Unit of Brady Corp. (Milwaukee). 

What one issue is the most important single challenge facing the converting industry today and why?
Dante Ferrari: The volatility of raw-material prices and availability that we have been experiencing over the last few years has certainly been a challenge. We prefer to dedicate more of our resources to product development and innovation to our customers but we find we have to dedicate a lot of resources to explaining why there’s this volatility. 

What actions is your company taking to assure a global focus? How has the fall in the dollar’s value affected your business? Or conversely, how has the rise of the pound, the rupee and the Canadian dollar affected your business?
Steve Jackson: You have to be a bit of a chameleon. If you have global customers, you act like them. If you have local customers, you act like them. PepsiCo is one example. We’re building a plant next door to serve them. We buy and sell in pounds sterling and Euros. The fall of the dollar has been very good for us, actually, and I thank you.

How has your company been impacted by the sustainability focus, and what do you see in the future?
Eric Maercklein: Because many of our products are meant to be permanent labeling, we’re less concerned about recyclability. In our coating operations, we’re focused on making sure it can be done without solvents. Our sustainability efforts are more in saving energy and being efficient with lean manufacturing, using thermal oxidizers, and getting ISO 14000 certification. As a global company, we’ve established a global benchmark for environmentally friendly practices based on the US. If we run or buy a facility outside the US, it has to be run environmental-wise as if it were in the US by things such as discharges or OSHA standards.

We hear many views regarding the US economy and, depending on your viewpoint, its strength or weakness.  How do you see the coming year for your markets and your business?
Bob Connelly: Something as huge as the US economy is just out of your control, so when you strategize about what your company should do, you need to find complementary businesses. When one market goes bad, often another gets good. You need to find the spot opportunities that you can take advantage of. There are just very definable things one can do in bad economic times to flourish. You want to be one of the hunters, not one of the hunted in these situations.

Be sure to read the full article in our June 2008 issue.

Posted by Mark Spaulding on May 28, 2008 | Comments (0)