After 20-plus years in the packaging industry, Chris Orsini noticed a seismic shift in client-centered sales.
“Our products had become a commodity and we were losing business because we [his undisclosed former employer] weren’t investing the time or money in our customers,” said Orsini, managing partner of East Windsor-based Specialty Packaging. “I knew there had to be a better way.”
For Orsini, that meant co-founding his own company with a greater focus on customization and service.
Since its 2012 founding — with co-founders Bill Bailey, Keith Streib, and Don McLeod, and only a handful of clients on board — Specialty Packaging has grown to more than 25 employees and 300 clients today. During that time, the company’s sales have blossomed from $2 million in 2012 to more than $19 million this year.
While Orsini estimates that 50 percent of that growth has been organic, half has come through acquisitions of two small packaging companies — D. McLeod Packaging and Mark C. Specialties. Those deals expanded Specialty Packaging’s sales force and provided an entrée into larger suppliers and manufacturers — many of whom, based on consumer demands, are looking for opportunities to customize their packaging.
“We really see custom printing as a tool to help our customers sell their products, which affects their bottom line,” Orsini said. Custom jobs currently represent nearly 50 percent of the company’s work — a percentage that Orsini expects to see increase. But it’s not just the packaging messages or images that are helping the manufacturer’s profit margins: it’s the packaging technology and features as well.
“Flexible film — which uses less raw material — is a growing trend in our industry,” Orsini explained. “And that helps make packaging more efficient and effective.”
That common sense approach has also informed Specialty Packaging’s industry focus.
“As a New England-focused company, many of our clients are food producers,” Orsini said. “Food is pretty local and those types of accounts tend to remain strong.”
Food packaging is a $161-billion-a-year industry that accounts for nearly 40 percent of all packaging in North America, according to Packaging World, an industry publication that tracks packaging machinery, materials, technologies and applications.
And it’s not just market demand, but client demands that are changing. “What’s most different about the [packaging] industry today is the speed at which clients expect results,” Orsini said. “But it’s good if you can handle it.”
That hasn’t been a problem for Specialty Packaging. The company extended its New England reach with a new distribution center in Londonderry, N.H. in addition to a 90,000-square-foot facility in Windsor.
“We have state-of-the-art computer systems that allow us to be quick and nimble,” Orsini said. “It’s a real advantage.”
Another big advantage that Specialty Packaging has is its association with East Windsor-based Specialty Printing, which was also co-founded by Bailey. Although they are independent companies, Bailey said he saw some strong potential business synergies between both entities.
“I saw an opportunity for the packaging company to become a core supplier for our printing company and have a chance to apply our lean strategies to the new packaging business,” said Bailey, who is Specialty Printing’s president and CEO. “It’s been a very successful endeavor.”
But Orsini knows his company and the industry face challenges. Some raw material costs, for instance, have risen more than 50 percent in the past three years alone, he estimates. “We don’t like to pass these costs on to customers, but having the required inventory of materials on hand — and managing it — is a big challenge,” he said.
For now, Orsini said, his company is in a hiring mode with a focus on sales personnel and exploring additional options for acquisition.
“We want a sales team that can invest its time in its clients’ business and add value,” Orsini said. Many larger packaging companies, he added, treat small businesses like commodities and are not willing or able to invest the time in a small but growing customer. They fail to see the long-term potential of growing businesses. “We want to grow within our customers, and are committed to doing so,” he said.
Orsini said he hopes — if current sales trends continue — that his company will reach $50 million in sales in the next five years.
