Chamber Tours Midsouth Packaging

Mid-South's Customer Service Manager David Perry shows Cullman Airport manager Bob Burns and other Chamber tour group members a package from
the Mid-South product line.

    Midsouth Packaging, a division of Wisconsin's Menasha Packaging, specializes in one thing, according to company representatives: total packaging solutions.
    From specialty die cut designs to moisture and abrasion resistant coatings and foam and wood corrugated combinations, Menasha's Midsouth facility in Cullman can create a package that will meet just about any need.
    "What we do is more than just manufacturing boxes," said Midsouth's Customer Service Manager David Perry as he led members of the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce Existing Business and Industry tour group through Midsouth's near-spotless plant recently. "We produce solutions for packaging problems."
    The Cullman plant has been in operation for some 24 years and was locally owned until the mid 1990s, at which time Menasha, the third largest packaging manufacturer in the U.S., bought the company.
    Midsouth Packaging is one of 80 Menasha operations, some 25 of which deal strictly with packaging, and will soon be changing its name to that of its parent corporation as the Menasha name is known worldwide.
    One of the hallmarks of Menasha and the Midsouth plant, Perry noted, is the innovative designs that are produced by the company. The Menasha Art Center in Menomonee Falls, Wis., is an award-winning graphic design studio geared with the specialized needs of the corrugated packaging medium in mind. Aside from the traditional cubed or rectangular package, Menasha's art and design extends to stand-up promotional displays, windowed boxes, specialty folding packages and even larger sizes of packages for the furniture industry.

Midsouth has recently added a new $1.3 million press that enables the plant to produce larger packages such as those used to ship furniture and appliances. During the past year, the company expanded its facility - almost doubling in size - to accommodate the giant press and to prepare for future growth. According to Perry, this expansion should suffice for the next five to ten years.

    Currently, the Cullman plant has approximately 100 employees which are split into two shifts.
    Employees are one of the company's most valued assets, explained Lee Underwood, general manager of the plant.
    "All of our first shift has been here at least 10 years," Underwood said. "Because of that, we can train them and get the quality we need."
    Quality and attention to detail are stressed at Menasha and at Midsouth, Perry said, pointing out the meticulously maintained plant floor and the heavy equipment, all of which had been shined to a high gloss. Perry noted that an important part of each employee's workday includes cleaning up his or her station after a shift, making for not only an amazingly clean and neat facility but also a safer one as well.

Every inch of Menasha's Midsouth plant is kept scrupulously clean.

Recycling is also a big part of the company's philosophy, positively affecting not only the environment but the bottom line as well. Every other day a trailer is loaded to the roof with 1,800 pound bales of scrap corrugated material which is sold back to the paper mill. As the material is pre-consumer, it is considered "clean" and goes directly right back into the process, Perry said.

Perry explains to Gerald Sims of the County Industrial Development Board and others the workings of the large die cutting equipment at the Cullman facility.		According to Perry, it's all part of the Menasha way, and it's what separates the company from many others in the industry. "It's about quality," he said. "We care. We have a lot of pride in what we do." "A lot of companies can make a box. We care about what we do and it shows. We like to say that we produce solutions to packaging problems ... we're problem solvers, really. The customers realize that and they respond to it." Menasha's corporate offices are located in Neenah, Wis. For more information about Menasha Packaging, its products or the Midsouth facility, check out www.menashapackaging.com or contact the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce at 256-734-0454.

Additional Images from the Chamber Tour (Click thumbnails to enlarge)

Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Alan Arnett and County Airport Manager Bob Burns listen as David Perry explains the shipping process at Midsouth.	Midsouth employees operate a huge die cutting press at the Cullman facility.	Keith Jackson and Gerald Sims, both of the County Industrial Development Board, tour the Midsouth facility.	Perry leads the Chamber tour group through the Midsouth plant.

Perry points out one of many racks of dies used to cut specialty packages.	The finished product awaits shipment.	A bale of scrap cardboard is ready for shipping back to the paper mill to be recycled.