WS Packaging grows its label and package printing busines through acquisition and lean manufacturing practices.

By Sue Busch

A strong example

With such a steady investment trend in motion, is the writing on the wall for smaller converting companies? Does long-term survival necessitate alignment with a bigger entity? Lane believes because "the industry is so big, and customer diversity is so huge," there is ample room in the marketplace for both larger and smaller operations. One dynamic in favor of smaller firms, he notes, is that some customers "like to be number one" in a firm where that customer's business represents fifty percent of the converter's total business.