Custom Made Boxes, Designs & Displays
Tucson Container recently installed a new specialty folder gluer and a new laminator for around 1.5 million dollars. “The gluer will allow us to run die cuts such as trays, auto lock bottom boxes and tubes," noted Nick Widera, GM.
Other equipment includes a 3-color rotary die cutter, a 2-color 50-inch by 118-inch flexo folder gluer, a 43-inch by 62-inch Bobst flatbed die cutter. “The Bobst provides us with high speeds plus fast set-ups and stripping.” Said Eladio a supervisor for the container divisions.
Southwest Exposure
Tucson Container produces around 200 million square feet of board annually. Seventy percent of the plant’s business is corrugated boxes, while the remaining business is foam and packaging supplies including special wood crates.
The ISO9001-2008 certified facility services a wide range of markets including electronics, computers and industrial. “Some of our customers are Bose, Otis, Motorola and GE” said John.
The plant covers a local range area from Tucson south into Mexico and east to our other plant in El Paso, Texas. The plant’s niche is fast turnaround on orders. “We’ll ship a customer’s order in the same day we receive the order if necessary. While our usual turnaround is three to four days, we ship custom boxes and packaging supplies 80 miles away into Mexico on six hour notice on almost a daily basis, said Mirko TCC customer service manager.
The company has its own foam division, Kino Foam, located within the same building “It’s one of the largest custom foam shops in Arizona” said Paul Hartburg, its manager. The Kino Packaging division handles all types of packaging needs from bags, bubble, stretch wrap, plus stock boxes and cartons.
Cooperative Effort
At Tucson Container, there is a decentralized management with no general manager, so all 80 employees wear different hats. “Whatever needs to be done in the office or plant, everyone chips in” says Dan Robinson, company controller. “We live by, On-Time with Quality – No Excuses”, he added.
Future Plans
Every year has seen challenges and growth for Tucson Container. “Our emphasis will be upon service and where that service takes our customers. They will dictate to us what solutions the company will provide,” added Chris Widera. As in soccer, we want to be where the ball is going, not where it has been Chris added.
“If you are out there and all you think you are doing is helping your customer make bricks instead of building cathedrals, that is not good enough. What’s really important to them is not so much the technology available, but what we can do with it: If we do it correctly, the end result will be long-term customer satisfaction. That is my dream goal”, noted John Widera.
