The Light Is Always Green at Stamar Packaging

As part of our effort at constant self-evaluation and improvement, Stamar Packaging is forever adopting new practices and procedures that will enable us to improve the quality of our products, services, and facility capabilities. We are also deeply committed to improving the relationship between industry and the natural environment, especially in a business such as ours – packaging – that stands at the crossroads of so much concerning the future sustainability of the planet. 

To that effect, we’ve put our money where our mouth is. Recently, we contracted a green lighting company to install new, energy-efficient “green electricity” for our distribution centers in Addison, IL, Memphis, TN, and Nashville, TN. The company is refurbishing Stamar’s old, traditional lighting with innovative, energy-saving solutions. We’ve cast away and recycled 244 metal halide fixtures in our warehouse, replacing them with 218 4 lamp T5 480V fixtures with daylight/occ sensors. In our fulfillment department, we’ve removed the 18 metal halide fixtures, refurbishing them with mere 4 lamp T5 480V fixtures with daylight/occ sensors. These sensors can measure the amount of natural light coming inside our factory, adjusting themselves automatically to the light as it comes in.

The fact is, lighting can actually damage the environment. How so? It causes air pollution, since the electricity in your facility is connected directly via the power-grid to a power plant, which most commonly burns coal, oil, or gas. As result, pollutants such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury get released into the atmosphere, contributing to environmental problems such as global warming, acid rain, and smog.

We’re a company that believes more in solutions than in problems. Not only does this wiser energy policy save us money in the long-term, cutting our estimated maintenance costs down a full $219,571 in the next five years, but it allows us to practice the message we advocate: that in order for American industry to flourish in the 21^st century, there must be less energy consumption while maintaining the same quality standards of production.

A New Standard for Long-Distance Freight Packaging

You’ve probably seen it once or twice in your driving lives, watched – half in humor, half in horror—as oranges or tomatoes trickled, one by one, off the back of the produce truck and splattered along the highway just a few meters ahead of your speeding car. Besides being an annoyance and even a hazard to your interstate driving, it’s also one of the more common ways worldwide that produce gets lost on its way to market: faulty packaging that breaks in transit.

To solve this problem, the Fiber Box Association (FBA), the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) as well as nationwide box manufacturers, growers, freight companies, produce distribution centers, retailers, and various government agencies, have all teamed up and arrived at a new solution. They’ve come up with a higher standard model for packaging fruits and veggies for long-distance transport: the Corrugated Common Footprint container.

The Corrugated Common Footprint container is a new and light-weight corrugated box that employs interlocking tabs and receptacles to provide better stability and lower shipping costs (always a good thing) for produce. The box’s inner air cushioning also makes it a lot harder for produce to bruise on its way to market. Not only that, but its standard-issue design and consistency make it simple for different box manufacturers, growers, and shippers to collaborate on wildly different varieties of cargo. With the new Corrugated Common Footprint container, it’s all of one piece and one box.

Who knew there were still ways to revolutionize boxes?

A Full-On Look into Our Fulfillment Capabilities

There are people out there that sometimes give us puzzled looks and furrow their brows when we tell them we’ve got “fulfillment capabilities” here at Stamar. What does that mean exactly? Are we somehow in the business of “wish fulfillment?”

Well, I guess we’d like to think so. But more to the point, “fulfillment capabilities” are the odds and ends services we’re able to perform on behalf of an individual or another company in order to make their business easier, more streamlined, and more productive. It’s a way of selling our raw labor-power at Stamar in order to add value to your own line of products. Fulfillment capabilities can be really small jobs, like labeling, or arranging for UPS/3rd party shipping; or they can be sizably ambitious tasks, like reworking whole product lines that haven’t met all their required certifications yet. We also can perform labor-intensive grunt-work, such as sorting defective parts from functional ones; the sheep from the goats.

We didn’t always offer this service. Ken Taylor, our chief of fulfillment capabilities, used to run his own company in the area and was our go-to guy as far as fulfillment services. When the economy got hit hard a few years back, we decided we’d all do better to combine forces with Ken and provide our services under one roof.

We’re more than glad we’ve put Ken on our roster. Add to that the 30 sales-reps who’ve been combing (mostly) the greater Chicago area, and we’ve been building ourselves quite an impressive spread of fulfillment clients since first we got going in early July. As the manufacturing sector continues to regain traction from its early losses in the Great Recession, we’re looking at 2012 as a big year for our fulfillment capabilities to grow lots of opportunities for ourselves, and for our customers.

An Interview with Stamar’s Own Bill Daniels – Part II

The following is a continuation of an interview with Stamar’s go-to sales rep down in Memphis, TN, Bill Daniels. This week Bill answers questions about where he sees our company’s place in its industry, what some of our best-selling products are, and about why he sees Memphis (and the Southern state market in general) being such a crucial link in Stamar’s future.

Q: What do you think makes Stamar stand out from its competition? What’s the “Stamar difference?”
Bill: Well, a few things come immediately to mind. We’re actually going to offer you services that meet your needs. Not just what we think you need, but what you actually do need. And we have trained technicians that will actually come in and help maintain packaging equipment they sell. A lot of other folks don’t have that.

What’s more is we’re flexible around here. We’re willing to negotiate terms that are satisfactory to everyone at the table. We’re willing to build customized items for the specific needs of a specific manufacturer; there’s nothing “one-size-fits-all” about us. And we’ll stock inventory for the same day or next day delivery, because we’ve got all the necessary transportation ability to get our product quickly over to you.

Q: What are some of the most interesting products you sell?
Bill: Corrugated boxes are our number one product at Stamar. They’re stronger and more stackable than other boxes. And very easy to protectively coat.

Q: Who are some of the biggest companies/industries you sell to? Who are your typical clients?
Bill: Let’s see. I’d say our biggest are internationally-recognized lighting fixture companies and paper mills.

Q: So how many Stamar sales reps are located in the Memphis area?
Bill: We’ve got around five or six.

Q: Why did Stamar decide to merge with Package Supply & Design LLC of Memphis, TN and why was it important to reach this area specifically?
Bill: Wurzburg really was considered the number one packaging company in the Mid-South; they covered about 12 states. Those were some big shoes that needed to be filled by somebody. Memphis is one of the biggest distribution hubs in the country…Nike, Richards, you name it. A number of Fortune 500 companies. Lots of new companies are moving to Memphis because of tax breaks and whatnot. It’s really a pretty big opportunity for folks like Stamar.

An Interview with Stamar’s Own Bill Daniel

We like our clients to learn as much as possible about the packaging industry—beyond the products we sell. After all, there’s more to packaging than just the bubble-wrap! We want people out there to learn about our employees and company on a more “neighborly basis”. To that effect, here’s a recent interview with one of our Memphis sales reps, Bill Daniel:

Interviewer: Bill, tell us about your history in this industry. Where were you and what were you doing before you started working at Stamar?

BD: Well, before I came onboard with Stamar, I was working for a company out here called Wurzburg. But… when Wurzburg went bankrupt a few years back, I decided to take all my knowledge and experience of designing and selling packaging that I’d accumulated all those years and continue to service customers in the North Mississipi market.

Int: When did you start working for Stamar and what made you want to join the Stamar family?

BD: I started back in February of 2010. I interviewed with four companies and, well, I just liked the support for both customers and sales men that Stamar had put in place over the last 30 plus years. They wanted their sales reps to go out and develop actual relationship selling. They went about their business personally, and I liked that aspect. It’s just one of many things, really.

Int: Describe your role at Stamar.

BD: I’m their go-to sales rep for Memphis, Tennessee as well as northern Mississippi.

Int: Bill, what do you like best about your position?

BD: I’m a friendly guy, always have been. I guess I just like getting to know people better. Develop good relationships and get some business.

Int: What do you like best about working at Stamar?

BD: I’m a big fan of Larry Stein and Joe Tedesco; they’re the co-owners of the company. I like them because they’re not afraid to be hands-on in their style of helping out customers; they’re actually able to come out into the field and make sales calls themselves. It’s a pretty good thing knowing that management’s just as capable as you when it comes to your job.

How To Further Decrease Corrugated Packaging’s Carbon Footprint

Due to its raw material (wood-based) origin, corrugated fiberboard has a net-zero environmental impact, and significantly reduces the overall carbon footprint of a containerboard mill. However, corrugated fiberboard does contribute to the Global Warming Potential (GWP) when it isn’t properly discarded, such as when it ends up in a landfill. The ensuing anaerobic decomposition releases a combination of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere in amounts that cause harm to the environment.

There are ways to further decrease corrugated packaging’s carbon footprint. Some suggested methods include:

• Divert corrugated fiberboard from winding up in landfills or other types of dumping grounds during end-of-life stages
• Increase corrugated recycling and recovery
• Increase the use of bio-based fuels for containerboard production and conversion

The industry is making great strides to improve corrugated recovery, and increase our use of biogenic fuels. In fact, with the recovery and reuse of almost 80% of all manufactured corrugated goods, corrugated fiberboard has one of the best recycling records on earth – compared with other packaging materials. Click here to learn more.

What is Corrugated Packaging’s Carbon Footprint?

Recently, the corrugated industry performed a life-cycle assessment (LCA) of corrugated packaging production. The study quantified the environmental effects produced by corrugated fiberboard items. A carbon footprint is the measurement of all greenhouse gases generated during the lifespan of a product. The LCA demonstrated that the carbon footprint for use and end-of-life stages of an average, 1-kilogram corrugated object is equivalent to 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide.

This low, 1-to-1 ratio is attributed to the renewable nature of corrugated’s raw material. Corrugated fiberboard is a multilayered substance with a fluted bottom or middle layer. Flute is made from unbleached pulpwood. Because trees absorb carbon dioxide (a process called carbon sequestration) and corrugated is made from wood-based (tree-derived) materials, burning corrugated paperboard does not increase or contribute to the Co2 problem— trees absorb carbon dioxide and burning re-releases it, resulting in a net-zero environmental impact.

In addition, the mills that produce corrugated fiberboard often use biomass fuels— energy that is also derived from natural agents – which reduce the overall footprint when compared with facilities that solely use fossil fuels. However, this type of packaging solution can contribute negatively to the environment when not disposed of properly. Stay tuned next week to learn how we can further decrease corrugated’s carbon footprint.