February 2, 2017
Lone Star Container Corp. has made it its business to always be ahead of the curve when it comes to technology and the capability it has to serve its customers.
Throughout the decades, the company has anticipated important trends in the corrugated industry and gotten in on them while they were still fresh and few others were doing them. Lone Star was among the first corrugated companies to do what is now called high graphics. The company also got an early start in labeling, and moved from labelers to laminators back before it was common practice. Lone Star also started a digital department more than a decade ago, putting the company ahead of the curve on that trend as well.
Founded in 1959, Lone Star Container got its start when its founder discovered that the corrugated business was much more lucrative than the steel strapping business, in which he was formerly involved. John McLeod Sr. sold steel strapping in North Texas. He had a large account with Sid Richardson, a carbon black manufacturing company. He worked on a large project of shipping bulk containers reinforced with steel strapping and worked with Sid Richardson engineers to develop a new way of shipping their carbon particles. Once the project was done, his company earned 25 cents worth of steel strapping on each pack, compared to $3 worth of corrugated box.
“At that point, he realized he was in the wrong business,” says his son, John McLeod Jr., who is now president and CEO of Lone Star Container.
He would go on to open Lone Star Container and bring in a minority partner, Jerry Hardison. Both of the founders passed away in 2010, leaving the younger McLeod in charge of the company for which he’d worked all his life.
“I started working in the plant when I was 14 years old, doing everything you can imagine,” says McLeod. “It’s one of those family businesses where you grow up in the business.”
Staying Power
McLeod identifies consistent management as one of the reasons the company has been able to attract good employees who stay for their entire careers. He says Lone Star fills most of its positions from within, with new hires being limited to apprentices who come in to learn the business from the ground up.
“Consistent management is another thing,” says McLeod. “Some places have a new boss every two years, and people get along with some bosses and some they don’t. So, my dad ran the company for a long time. There is something to be said for my father at the helm, and I’ve been a pretty good student of his. I respect him immensely and aspire to follow in his footsteps.”
McLeod started to have more managerial say in the company around the late 1990s, allowing for a smooth transition period for his employees. He says the company has a consistent philosophy that allows Lone Star to match with its employees and its employees to match with it.
“We’re a family business,” says McLeod. “Everyone here has family with high expectations, and apparently we are a good place to stay. Our average tenure, from the baler operator all the way up to the sales service manager, is around 18 years. We have plenty of people with 35 years of experience.
“We offer a steady, solid place of employment,” McLeod continues. “Expectations are understood—the customers are No. 1. We have good benefits and a pleasant working environment. That hopefully adds up to a decent place to work.”
The lengthy tenure results in employees who are experts in the industry and in the machinery they work on. McLeod says his employees are well-versed in a lot of equipment and are able to run multiple machines. When new processes are brought in-house or new equipment is acquired, the employees are quick to learn the new operations.
DIY
Lone Star Container prides itself on keeping as much of its manufacturing processes in-house as possible, allowing the company to pass savings on to its customers. This means Lone Star does everything from creating the box to labeling and laminating, to also producing all the graphics. Lone Star offers services in design, shipping, litho printing, flexo printing, gluing, die cutting, and digital packaging.
Lone Star’s services now encompass anything and everything that is corrugated. The company provides retail packaging, elaborate temporary POP displays, and protective packaging. It works with customers on everything from the conceptual stage to supply-chain fulfillment.
Looking Ahead
McLeod says the next area of focus is updating digital printing, a department that first opened in 2006.
“That will be our next move, to upgrade that department,” says McLeod. “For two or three years, we’ve been looking at all the new equipment that has come out on the market. So far, nothing has caught our eye enough to buy, but every year we get closer to having to upgrade. In the digital department, our processes are six or seven years old, and that’s getting pretty antiquated. So, that’s what the future holds—upgrading our digital printing equipment.”
Lone Star started sheeting its own top sheets in 2011. McLeod said it wasn’t a landmark move, but it was something the company was initially doing on the outside. It was then decided Lone Star needed to be in total control of its processes, so it now does all of that in-house.
Sometime this year, Lone Star is opening a new sheet plant in San Antonio. The building has been purchased, and machines are being installed. This new building supplements their 250,000-square-foot flagship building in Irving, Texas, and their sheet plant in Charlotte, N.C.
Virginia Humphrey is director of membership at AICC.
