Colbert Packaging Expands Capabilities

If there's one word at work on multiple levels at folding carton, rigid box, and paperboard specialty product converter Colbert Packaging, it's sustainability. The term's environmental angle is just the start for this Lake Forest, Ill.-based converter, which recycles 6,700 tons of scrap annually, and has held Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) and Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) chain of custody certifications since 2010, which assure responsible paperboard sources. Moreover, Colbert was honored in 2007 with the Illinois Sustainable Technology Award for its BlisterGuard® and EnviroGuard™ packages, designed as paperboard-oriented alternatives to plastic clamshell packages.

And then there's the overarching matter of being sustainable in the marketplace. "We're a survivor in the folding carton business," says Jim Hamilton, president of Colbert Packaging. "We've grown past what family-owned businesses typically do in net sales." He chalks up this achievement to the converter's narrower, sales-oriented market focus. While, according to Hamilton, "folding cartons are the heart of our business," the company (which has remained family-owned since its founding in 1959) maintains a strategic pursuit of marketplace niches that may not be open to every competitor. "We have not tried to be something for everybody," he explains. "We've focused on pharmaceuticals and healthcare, where the barrier to entry can be significant."

Colbert has found sustainable business in the pharmaceutical arena through a strong track record of earning certified supplier status with multiple Fortune 500 companies. This achievement has opened doors for the converter to work with similar customers that perform rigorous compliance checks on service providers, adds Jennifer Gross, manager, marketing and sales support. Packaging configurations typically produced for pharma and medical customers can range from a standard reverse-tuck folding carton to combination packaging that includes a folding carton and a package insert, while typical folding carton applications for healthcare and nutraceutical packaging customers include reverse tuck and auto-bottom styles.

Survival through progress

Still, for Colbert, sustainability is not meant to imply stagnancy. "This doesn't mean being a one-trick pony," says Brad Davis, vice president and general manager of Colbert Flexographic Packaging. Davis explains that instead of finding one thing to do well and sticking with it, "Colbert has, and continues to strive to provide all the components to be a full-service supplier to our customers."

Such dedicated attention to learning new tricks is evidenced in Colbert's key growth milestones in recent years, which according to Gross, have been most keenly focused on expanding capacity and product line capability. These events include the launch of Colbert Flexographic Packaging in 1998, and the acquisition of Barger Packaging (now the company's Elkhart, Ind., sheetfed offset production facility) in 2004. Today, Colbert operates two sheetfed offset production facilities (featuring press technologies from Mitsubishi, manroland, and Heidelberg), and one flexographic production facility (housing press technologies from Mark Andy and CPS Canadian Primoflex Systems).

Still, more highlights of expanding capabilities dot Colbert's recent history. In 2005, Colbert joined the Independent Carton Group (ICG), an organization that facilitates combined materials purchases across members and helps to assure backup by other members in the event of a disaster recovery need. Additionally, in 2011, Colbert forged an alliance with Haapanen Brothers (Gurnee, Ill.) to create C and H Printing Solutions (based in Lake Forest, Ill.) to manufacture package inserts for a wide range of industries and also provide digital printing services for a small niche market of customers.

Signature tricks

For Colbert, the 1998 opening of its flexographic printing operations signified one of the most important measures in the company's quest to consistently operate above "one-trick pony" status. According to Lon Johnson, VP, national accounts, the addition of narrow-web flexo printing technology presented Colbert customers with a lower-cost alternative (versus sheetfed offset printing) for high-volume carton printing jobs that included mostly solid colors and did not require technical graphics. This fresh flexo offering also opened up UV printing capabilities, he adds.

In 2012, Colbert's flexo operation took another decisive step with the installation of a customized 9-color, 23˝ Primographic printing press from CPS Canadian Primoflex Systems. With nine print stations, the CP 585 flexo press can print 4-color process colors on both sides of web-fed paperboard and coats in a single pass, at speeds up to 500 fpm. "The addition of this custom-built press has allowed us to increase our production capacity and provide inline enhanced printing capabilities to our customers that previously required multiple passes to achieve, or had to be completed offline," Gross comments. Of particular note are the press's cold foil and HoloCure™ technologies for producing metallic and holographic effects on packaging. Other streamline-friendly features include an inline Kempsmith flatbed diecutter and a rotary embossing station.

The CP 585's ability to produce a greater variety of more complex packaging graphics and designs led to a notable shift in flexographic printing's overall role within Colbert's operations. With every new job that comes in the door, Colbert's account management team reviews carton specification and quantities to determine the best production fit within its facilities, Johnson relates. With the incorporation of the CP 585's capabilities, however, the Colbert team began more frequently finding that flexo could be the most viable production solution. For example, notes Hamilton, a large eye-care product company that uses foil cartons found that its packages were better suited for flexo production because of the CP 585's ability to print white solids over foil.

The CP 585 has also helped Colbert capitalize on flexo's strength in printing metallic inks, particularly in high-resolution applications, says Davis. "You can make a carton much less expensive by printing metallic ink versus printing on foil," he explains.

Though carton size is still the primary determinant in whether an incoming print job is routed to a sheetfed offset press or a narrow-web flexo press, Davis estimates that at least half of Colbert's small- to medium-sized carton work lends itself most readily to the flexo process. The positive implications of Colbert's latest investments have been significant enough to merit Colbert's pursuit of yet another press purchase, Hamilton notes.

Sustained investments

A key element of Colbert's future sustainability plan is its leadership team's intent to continually investigate and install new equipment, with a focus on expanding both printing and finishing capabilities. In the short-term, such investments will aim to meet demand for more complex combination packaging designs, as well as the widely varying volume requirements of carton customers—which can range from small FDA runs to quantities in the millions, Johnson explains.

For carton converters, the marketplace's most significant challenges can also represent its most promising growth opportunities. For instance, according to Johnson, customers' expanding packaging insert sizes and growing interest in combination packaging led Colbert to install an electronic verification system that scans both bar codes and the position of the insert for placement accuracy. Additionally, a rising need for complex combination packaging led to the development of Colbert's Zip-Sert® package design, which combines a carton and an insert in one finishing operation. Furthermore, the growing demand for unit-dose packaging that meets child-resistant/senior-friendly patient compliance requirements paved the way for the growth of Colbert's specialty packaging line for pharmaceuticals, including MedLock™, ComplyPak™, and PharmaGuard™. Hamilton notes that Colbert holds nine patents on specialty packaging products such as BlisterGuard, EnviroGuard, MedLock, and ComplyPak—a category that represents 15 percent of the converter's business.

Colbert's projected double-digit growth in the next five years could be organic or acquisition-based, or a combination of both, Gross comments. It's a formula that Colbert has already demonstrated can turn a carton industry "survivor" into a thriver. pP