Calm, Cool Converting

Printing, converting, and finishing firm George Schmitt & Co. (based in Guilford, Conn.), a family-owned company led by third-generation owner Robert Gunther, founded Palmas in 1974 in order to serve the cigar band business via a separate Puerto Rico-based gravure unit in close proximity to primary tobacco clients. According to Love, Palmas has remained a primary supplier to the cigar industry because of the specialized capabilities it has honed for this small market segment, including multiple print processes (everything over the years from gravure and letterpress to rotary screen, hot stamping, and flexo), nested printing designs, and roll re-registration diecutting for roll form cigar bands. Still under the ownership of the Gunther family, Palmas enjoys an underlying stability that facilitates its nimble reactions to customers' fluctuating market needs. Love explains that George Schmitt & Co.'s history sets a strong corporate tone for reinvention: Schmitt began as a lithographic company in 1874 and today is a multiple-location, multiple-process printing, finishing, and converting services firm. "Palmas inherited this ability to regularly re-invent itself and stay viable," he observes.