Jamestown Container
(Photo credit: Mike Steinberg Photography)
Thirteen years ago, Jamestown Container
Companies purchased the assets of a sheet plant
in Warrensville Heights, a suburb of Cleveland,
Ohio. Although Jamestown is a well-known
independent corrugated solutions provider, with
more than 50 years in the business, in 1997 it
was serving primarily the Western New York
market. Clearly, Jamestown was the new kid on
the block in Cleveland.
Bill Madl, Sales Manager, Lake Erie Region,
recalls those early years trying to get a foot in
the door with customers. “Once you get in that
door it’s a more fragile door.When you start out,
you’re literally on eggshells or pins and needles
because customers are watching you with a
microscope. You better do it right. That’s the
beauty of Jamestown, they do what they say
they’re going to do.”
What Jamestown did was pledge its
commitment to the Northeast Ohio market,
acquiring two additional plants and merging
them into one facility, steadily growing the
business. In July, the company made the
ultimate commitment, relocating from the
leased facility in Warrensville Heights to the
nearby suburb of Macedonia.
“We’ve been in this market for 13 years, but
every six months or so a rumor would be out
there that we’re going back to New York because
we didn’t own the building,” says Larry Hudson,
SHORT TURNAROUND TIME AND
FLEXIBILITY HELPED JAMESTOWN
CONTAINER’S CLEVELAND, OHIO,
SHEET PLANT EXPAND THE
COMPANY’S LAKE ERIE REGION.
IN JULY, THE PLANT RELOCATED
TO A LARGER FACILITY.
BY JACKIE SCHULTZ
JAMESTOWN VALIDATES
COMMITMENT TO
OHIO MARKET
JOSEPH M. PALMERI, GENERAL MANAGER, LAKE ERIE REGION (LEFT), AND BILL MADL, SALES MANAGER, LAKE ERIE REGION.
40
Corrugated Today November/December 2010
continued
Jamestown Container
Vice President of Operations, Lake Erie Region. “To
our employees and to our customers, this should be
the final commitment. Not only are we staying but
we purchased a rather large building.”
Joseph M. Palmeri, General Manager of the Lake
Erie Region, adds, “Within a year or so after coming
to Warrensville Heights we started looking (for a
new facility). We knew ultimately that we were
going to outgrow that building.We’re committed to
this market and we want to continue to grow in this
market. The opportunities are here.”
Flexibility is Key
The Northeast Ohio market is competitive with a
multitude of box plants. Palmeri attributes
Jamestown’s success in the region to focused sales
efforts, a highly dedicated work force, short lead
times, flexibility and quality.
“We are probably as flexible today as we’ve ever
been,” Palmeri says. “We do what it takes. The
answer is ‘yes.’ We’ll find a way to do it.”
Lead times can be less than 24 hours. The
company has one customer that places an order
every day at 7 a.m. and needs delivery by 11 a.m.
seven days a week.
“We’re staffed five days a week.We’re here six or
seven days a week for a customer that takes
delivery seven days a week, including holidays. We
just make it work,” Palmeri says. “We’re really not
selling a box. We’re selling a packaging solution and
we’re selling a service.”
“THAT’S THE
BEAUTY OF
JAMESTOWN,
THEY DO WHAT
THEY SAY
THEY’RE GOING
TO DO,” SAYS
BILL MADL.
BY RELOCATING, JAMESTOWN INCREASED ITS MANUFACTURING SPACE BY ABOUT 30%.
42
Corrugated Today November/December 2010
Adds Hudson, “We’re selling the complete
package — a quality product, at a competitive price
and when a customer needs it.” This includes
packaging supplies, wood pallets, foam, tubes, and
cores.
“Anything you want on that truck, we’ll do with
one PO,” Palmeri says.
Regional Approach
Based in the small town of Jamestown, N.Y.,
Jamestown Container has four manufacturing
facilities that are divided into two regions. The
Rochester and Yorkville, N.Y., facilities serve the Lake
Ontario region, and the Macedonia, Ohio, and
Falconer, N.Y., plants make up the Lake Erie region.
In addition, the company has a location in Buffalo,
N.Y. that provides packaging supplies, retail displays
and other specialty packaging solutions. Together,
the three regions serve the three-state area of New
York, Ohio and Pennsylvania as well as Southern
Ontario.
The Macedonia plant operates two shifts, and
the Falconer plant, which is located about 150 miles
northeast, runs three. Combined monthly
production is more than 35 million sq ft. Both
plants manufacture traditional brown box up to two
colors for a variety of market segments, including
manufacturing, industrial, personal and healthcare,
food and automotive.
“We operate this region as one big plant, even
though it’s two separate locations,” Palmeri says.
continued
Jamestown Container
A KEY PIECE OF EQUIPMENT IS A TWO-COLOR MCKINLEY ROTARY DIECUTTER.
“We’re constantly moving work back and forth
balancing capacity. We run whatever makes
sense. We will keep Falconer full on three shifts.
Anything that doesn’t fit this equipment in
Macedonia we’ll move it there and take
something that they’re running that does fit this
equipment and keep that balance.”
By relocating to Macedonia, Jamestown
increased its manufacturing space by about 30%.
The plant sits on 15 acres, giving the company
the opportunity to expand to 250,000 sq ft.
Palmeri says he looked at a lot of buildings.
“For an existing building this was
probably the best we’ve seen. It has
cross-docks and the column spacing is
right. You could envision a box plant
when you walked out into the empty
plant.”
In addition to more manufacturing
space, the plant has six dock doors on
either side of the building, doubling the
shipping and receiving space.
“We wanted to fix what we didn’t like
about the other location. It was a great building,
but we bought an existing business so it was
already laid out. We had no say where
equipment was,” Palmeri says.“One thing I never
liked about that plant was you always had to go
find the plant when you walked out the door.
When you walked out it was all inventory. Here,
when you step out that door you see the plant.”
Key pieces of equipment include a two-color
44
Corrugated Today November/December 2010
“TO OUR EMPLOYEES
AND TO OUR
CUSTOMERS THIS
SHOULD BE
THE FINAL
COMMITMENT,” SAYS
LARRY HUDSON.
McKinley rotary diecutter and a two-color
Langston Saturn III flexo folder-gluer. The plant
also has a 66-inch diecutter, a 50-inch press and
a Post folder-gluer.
Before all of the equipment was moved to
the new plant, drains had to be installed, the
floors had to be reinforced, and the building had
to be rewired. Jamestown hired Flexo
Mechanical Service, New London, Ohio, to
manage the relocation.
“Dan and Don Mowry and their crew showed
up June 12, and we were running July 19. That’s
quick. Every piece of equipment, every floor
foundation, every drain, every electrical wire was
in place,” Palmeri says.
The move was seamless, so much so that
customers were barely aware that it was taking
place. All orders were delivered without a hitch.
“Our goal was to move without customers
knowing we were moving. In our mind that’s a
successful move,” Palmeri says.“I think we pulled
that off where we took machines down and just
kept running orders in New York and didn’t miss
a beat on service, quality or delivery.”
“When you move a machine from one plant
to another you’re going to experience some
issues, but I thought it was well planned
out,” Madl adds. “Joe took that under his
wing 24/7.”
While customers were told about the
move, no formal letters were sent. Palmeri
jokes that some customers were even
grateful not to know all of the details.“They
would have ordered more.They would have
been nervous. Afterward, many said they
were better off not knowing.”
continued
Jamestown Container
Careful Planning
There are 56 employees at the Macedonia
facility and all of them remained with the
company after the move. In fact, the plant
increased its work force by 10% since relocating.
Although Warrensville Heights and
Macedonia are only 14 miles apart, careful
consideration was given regarding the effect the
move would have on employees and customers.
“We looked long and hard to make sure that this
was the right spot,” Palmeri says. “We mapped
out every single customer, every percentage of
where our business was.
“We mapped out where every single
employee lives,” he continues. “We looked at
“OUR GOAL
WAS TO MOVE
WITHOUT
CUSTOMERS
KNOWING WE
WERE
MOVING,” SAYS
JOSEPH M.
PALMERI.
TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF TOOLING, JAMESTOWN CONTAINER MAKES ALL OF ITS OWN
CUTTING DIES.
46
Corrugated Today November/December 2010
things that might seem insignificant but to
employees are a big deal like where they are
going to park and what’s around the building in
terms of banks, stores and restaurants.”
The employees were invited to visit the
building a week after it was purchased in order
to submit suggestions. “We wanted feedback
from machine operators and lift truck drivers,”
Palmeri says, adding that safety was a major
consideration. As of Oct. 24, the plant has gone
2501 days without a lost time accident.
“We’re proud of our safety efforts and we
want to continue that in the new building,”
Palmeri says. “It will be seven years in December
without a lost time accident.”
Jamestown has a strong safety ethic from
management down and an active safety
committee, according to Palmeri. “It starts with
us. It’s one of the things we were cautious about
when we started running here in July. It’s the
same machines and the same people on those
machines, but a different location, layout, and
lighting.”
Adds Hudson, “We changed our environment
so the employees had to think, ‘I always turned
left at that stack, but now I have to turn right,’ or
‘That stack isn’t there.’ This was especially the
case for lift truck drivers.”
To reinforce safety in the new plant, the
production crew attend “Toolbox Talks,” which
are five-minute sessions emphasizing best
practices like proper lifting or the correct way to
handle utility knives or walk on conveyors.
Palmeri boasts of the plant’s very stable work
force, which he says is typical of all the Jamestown
plants. What is the key to keeping good
employees? “It’s how you treat them. It’s the
environment you create. It’s the management, the
owners, the culture you create,” he says.
As an example, he references the relocation.
“I don’t know if every company would take the
time to map out where every employee lives and
who is going to get hurt and how do we
overcome it. What’s the impact on people?”
As a result, he says the final outcome was
extremely positive. “They saw the commitment
to this market and to our future here.”