2018 and Beyond

As I write this article, we are nearing the end of the first quarter of 2018 and hopefully getting close to saying goodbye to Old Man Winter. The AICC Spring Meeting has just occurred in Arizona, and it was awesome to see colleagues, friends, and customers—but more than anything, the sun!

So, when I look at where we are as an industry, we seem to be in the same mode that we closed 2017 in. The industry is going crazy; there is a voracious appetite for new and more efficient, faster-running equipment, and all of a sudden, paper and packaging companies are making financial news headlines—the largest one being International Paper’s audacious unsolicited bid for Smurfit Kappa. It failed this time around, but many pundits are saying that if the intent is there, then eventually an agreement will be made, making International Paper by far the largest player in our markets globally.

As suppliers (Associates) to this market, what does this mean for us, and how do we plan for the rest of this year and beyond?

As in all market cycles—either up or down—there is always good news and bad. There are always new opportunities that open up, but an active market like this always give rise to the “I want it right now” mentality, whether it might be the right long-term solution or not. And if we aren’t careful about the products and services we market, there is the possibility that we will leave the industry with a liability and not an asset. What we must do as suppliers is be absolutely responsible. As we all know, the corrugated industry purchases equipment for long-term use, not to fill short-term gaps, so let us all make sure that what we are selling is:

• technically sound and capable of withstanding the rigors of this typically hard environment;
• compliant with all of the increasing health and safety protocols—we don’t want anyone to get hurt while operating equipment;
• capable of being adapted for future use—the business is rapidly changing, and it is important that any new equipment can be used for a long period of time, either in its intended form or with some future adaptation;
• simple to operate and maintain—we typically don’t have highly qualified individuals in a box plant, so let’s give them the opportunity to perform at a high level every day; and
• fun to operate—we are struggling to bring younger people into this industry, so we need operators to leave after a challenging day in the plant saying, “That was fun. Let’s do it again tomorrow!”

We certainly have a huge responsibility as suppliers to this rapidly evolving industry, and we are being tasked with selling “solutions” and not just equipment. Let’s make sure that the advice we give and the solutions we sell fit the above criteria and help this industry continue to grow and prosper.

This article was written by Dave Burgess.