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Article
If You Build It...
September 1, 2008 By: Esther Durkalski Hertzfeld Paperboard Packaging
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In 1994, Jerry Frisch and Paul Keyser, owner of Utah Paper Box, were discussing how they could better serve and expand customers. The two men viewed packaging brokers, the ones that offer the complete project management of all types of packaging, as a threat. Utah Paper Box produces folding cartons and rigid boxes so the next logical step in offering the complete package was to diversify into corrugated boxes. The goal was to create a true one-stop packaging shop.
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Being idealistic, Frisch and Keyser thought with their years of paperboard manufacturing experience, starting a sheet plant would be easy. Frisch had worked for 15 years in an independent folding carton plant in the Minneapolis area, eventually being promoted to president of the company at 31 years old. But after an attempted buy-out of the company that didn't work out, Frisch moved to Salt Lake City to work for Utah Paper Box.
"We must have been watching the movie Field of Dreams," Frisch says. "The movie line, 'If you build it, they will come,' stuck out. All we needed was to build a building, fill it with equipment, hire some people, and the customers would come. Yeah right."
If only it were that easy. Frisch quickly learned that the corrugated industry was nothing like the folding carton industry. While similar, they are also worlds apart. "It appears to be so simple on paper," Frisch says. "But that definitely wasn't the case."
The company was named Wasatch Container after the beautiful ski mountains around Salt Lake City.
Five Utah Paper Box managers, in addition to Frisch and Keyser, invested in the start-up of Wasatch Container. Having the correct partners to assist in the start up helped Wasatch be successful. Today, Wasatch's seven partners have more than 187 years of experience in manufacturing, sales and accounting. Frisch is the president and oversees the entire operation.
"This was a huge impact in getting Wasatch started in the right direction," Frisch says. "This gave us the chance to start up with a high probability of success."
 Frisch has been successful in diversifying his sheet plant into a full service packaging operation with foam and wooden crates as well. |
Starting Up
Wasatch started off in a building in the outskirts of Salt Lake City for its operations. The 35,000-sq-ft building is still the company's home today.
The company's first hire was Steve Gydesen (who's still with the company), who had years of experience in his family's corrugated business. Between Gydesen and Frisch, the two started an equipment-shopping list.
 Wasatch has the right management in place to continue to diversify and grow, President Jerry Frisch says. From left: Customer Service Manager Ethan Gale, Vice President Steve Gydesen, Frisch, Sales Manager Brett Bangerter, and Operations Manager Doug Lively. |
While shopping for a flexo folder-gluer, Frisch remembers the difficult questions asked of him by a machinery dealer. "What size flexo and how many colors?" Frisch didn't know the answer. With his background in folding cartons, Frisch didn't know the options he had. So the dealer phrased the question a different way: "What kind of business does Wasatch have to run and what is the company's target market?" Again, a difficult question Frisch didn't have the answer to.
 When Wasatch was created, the Utah Paper Box partners and Wasatch President Frisch wanted to diversify into a full-service packaging company, not just a sheet plant. |
At the time, the company was just offering brown boxes and had four initial clients that committed their corrugated needs to Wasatch as long as the company serviced them as well as Utah Paper Box. Wasatch still has those same four clients 14 years later.
In the beginning, Wasatch bought a used two-color 1969 Hooper Swift flexo and a two-color printer-slotter, along with various gluers, tapers and a Thompson diecutter.
 In the past four years, Wasatch has invested more than $500,000 in new equipment for its foam shop operations. |
The company was off and running. Between Gydesen and Frisch, they were doing it all. Estimating was done by on $10 calculators. All paperwork was done manually on card tables. By the summer of 1994, the first order was shipped. "It was a small order, but it was an important one," Frisch says. "At that moment, I knew we could do it."
But there was a problem Frisch didn't plan on encountering — the employee factor. When Wasatch was starting up, the Salt Lake City unemployment was at 2.3 percent, adding to the difficulty of hiring people to work in a start-up operation. "People just don't feel confident in working for a start-up," Frisch says. "We weren't a very attractive company even though we started in a nice building."
Adding to the problem was the fact that Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Winter Olympics and the city infrastructure was being built up like crazy. Wasatch was competing to hire against contractors offering almost $5 more an hour. But thankfully, Frisch has been able to finally hire quality personnel.
From the 60s to the New Millennium
Even though Wasatch remains small, each year, the company has upgraded equipment and purchased machinery. Frisch recognizes the value in putting money back in the company to grow it and to keep up with customers' needs and demands. This past spring, the company scrapped its 1969 Hopper Swift flexo with a 2000 Grant Workhorse. The flexo folder-gluer is 50 by 113 inches, three colors and has inline diecutting. "It was like going from the 60s to the new millennium in one month," Frisch says.
In 1998, Wasatch purchased its first corrugated software system, Zytek. The company upgraded to Amtech's Imaginera in 2005 and earlier this year, Wasatch purchased Amtech's Top Gun inventory management software. "When we upgraded to Amtech, it was a challenge and stressful on everyone involved, but in the end, it made us a more professional packaging company," Frisch says.
Today, the plant also has a McKinley two-color 66- by 110-in. printer-slotter, a 66- by 166-in. Universal slotter, a 48-by 62-in. Maramatsu diecutter, a Stock semi-automatic laminator, along with various gluing equipment.
Wasatch has an alliance with Utah Paper Box, but the two companies are completely separate entities. As part of the master plan to become a true one-stop packaging company, in 2000, Wasatch purchased a local foam fabricator, Specifications Design.
Wasatch moved the foam saws, diecutter and gluing equipment into the corrugated building and absorbed the two employees. But the business didn't grow as Frisch hoped so he decided to hire an experienced foam plant manager, Neil Crump, to focus specifically on the manufacturing. He also hired a seasonal salesperson, Tim Cunningham, specifically for the foam business. That did the trick and the business turned the corner rapidly.
Within a year, Frisch contacted a foam competitor, American Excelsior, to see if the company had any used equipment for sale. Discussions evolved from there, and Wasatch eventually bought the operations, and the 67,000-sq-ft building, which are located a mile from Wasatch's building.
In the past four years, Wasatch has invested more than $500,000 in new equipment in the foam shop, including a Data Technology CAD table, a Feckin-Kirfel closed cell splitter, Atom CNC die-less diecutting table and various gluing devices. The foam business has integrated well with the corrugated side and the partnership with Utah Paper Box on the folding carton and rigid box side.
In 2005, the company started producing wooden crates to further meet with customers' packaging needs.
"The benefit to your customers is that they have one source for all their packaging needs," he says. "You can design and build the correct package to meet your customers' needs. The point is to give your customers the correct package, not just the packaging you manufacture."
Some of Wasatch's largest customers are in the medical equipment, aerospace, military, automotive, and consumer products industries. The integration of foam and corrugated has been important, especially with Wasatch's designers. Wasatch's two designers help customers chose the best packaging type and incorporate the two together for optimal product protection.
Good Stewards
Frisch, who is the incoming chairman of the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters, says he is lucky enough to view plants around the world and he has learned what not to do in his operations. "Our buildings, offices, plant floors, and staff show that our employees enjoy working here," he says. "I've seen companies that don't have pride and spirit — not here at Wasatch. We keep a clean, safe, well-lit environment that's ready for a tour any day and time of the week."
"We believe we need to be good stewards of our natural resources and protect our environment," Frisch says. Wasatch has been actively protecting those natural resources while helping its operations for years now — long before it became popular. While sustainability is definitely the buzzword these days, Frisch believes companies should first focus on sustaining the company — and energy savings is a great first step.
In 2007, Wasatch's local power company started offering rebates for manufacturing plants to change to more energy efficient lighting systems.
"We had three contractors come in and review our current lighting and present their proposals," Frisch says. "One company provided us a foot pounds candle reading of both manufacturing plants and I was embarrassed how poor our lighting was."
The company also estimated savings of upgrading to fluorescent T-8 lighting. The cost to retrofit both Wasatch plants was $29,689 and the power company offered a more than $10,000 rebate. "It was a no-brainer," Frisch says.
Today, Wasatch's plants have 50 percent better lighting than they did two years ago and are saving energy and money every month since installing the new lighting, even after the power company rate increase. The company also installed motion detectors in the finished goods warehouse and offices to save electricity.
Starting in January 2008, Wasatch began to monitor its monthly diesel fuel consumption in its delivery trucks. Operations Manager Doug Lively worked with scheduling, customer service and shipping to reduce fuel consumption without sacrificing service. After the first six months of the year, the company sales are up 4 percent and the fuel consumption is down 20.5 percent. Unfortunately the savings isn't greater because fuel costs are up 10.1 percent, but it has definitely helped Wasatch on its growth pattern.
This year, the company installed a system that chops the pallet strapping into small pieces that are sent to a local recycler. The company also recycles its polyurethane, which gets used in the making of new carpet pads. Polyethylene is more challenging to keep out of landfills, Frisch says. Wasatch is working with a local burn plant to burn the polyethylene. The power generated from the burn plant provides steam heat for the Hill Air Force base located in nearby Ogden, Utah.
Today, Wasatch and Utah Paper Box offer customers corrugated containers, point-of-purchase displays, folding cartons, rigid boxes, litho lamination, polyethylene, polyurethane, and wooden shipping crates — all manufactured internally. A true one-stop operation for any customer's packaging needs.
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