Great people are the fundamental building block of good business. More than machinery, more than facilities, it’s quality human beings that make the difference. In this edition of Paperboard Packaging Partners, we’re featuring our friends at Newman & Company Inc. to show that the people you work with are just as important as the products you make.
Newman & Company Inc. is a heritage manufacturer of quality chipboard material based in Philadelphia, currently celebrating 100 years of operation as a family-run business. The folks at Newman pride themselves on outstanding customer service, competitive pricing, and the consistent quality of their product.
Family Values
Newman & Co. have been instrumental to the success of Taylor Box. Their chipboard material serves as the basis for much of the work we create and we return to Newman for our board materials over and over again. In fact, Newman & Co. is the exclusive supplier of chipboard for our custom boxes.
Why? Because the dedication and diligence demonstrated by the team at Newman & Co. ensures we wouldn’t go anywhere else. When we talk about the importance of people in business, the relationship between Taylor and Newman & Co. is a prime example. As two family businesses with over 100 years under our belts, we have a lot in common.
Take it from Newman & Co. Logistics Manager and Sales Representative Nick DelBuono,
“Working in a family business offers certain benefits that are rare to find in a larger public corporation. Over my 25 years working at Newman, they have ingratiated me into their personal lives. We laugh, we cry, we argue, we agree, and at the end of the day, we have the utmost love and respect for each other. It may sound hokey, but it’s true.”
We know the feeling, Nick. The atmosphere of a family-run business provides a sense of value that you can’t replicate in a corporate environment. Success and failures are shared, and ultimately, that close-knit sense of community founded around great people is what keeps companies like ours going strong for generations on end.
Serious About Sustainability
Beyond their commitment to providing stellar customer service, Newman & Co.’s remarkable efforts toward sustainable manufacturing practices deserve recognition.
“Newman & Co. Inc. manufactures approximately 220 tons of 100% recycled chipboard per day,” Nick says. “We use approximately 240 tons of recyclable waste paper every 24 hours, and our plant operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.”
For those keeping score, that’s nearly 90,000 tons of recyclable waste paper that Newman & Co. transforms into quality chipboard every year! Those are some serious stats. And chances are, if you recycle in the greater Philadelphia area, your second-hand paper products may wind up as a Taylor box.
“Predominantly, we use post-consumer materials directly from generators such as residential curbside collection, post commercial, and post-industrial producers.”
Think about that. How many other industries do you know of where curbside collection contributes to the production of raw materials? How often do you, as a consumer, get to play a role in the world of manufacturing? This week’s cereal box could go on to become a premium package for one of the world’s most recognizable brands.
Newman’s process of collecting post-consumer waste to be made into chipboard is an incredible undertaking, but how Newman & Co. obtains their raw materials is just as important as how their chipboard is made.
“We back haul loads of scrap paper from our customers who are paperboard converters utilizing our fleet of company-owned trucks and trailers. This effort improves efficiency, reduces cost, and reduces our carbon footprint by utilizing every mile our trucks operate fully to haul materials associated with our operations.” Nick says.
It might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but streamlining the supply chain by cutting out the middleman in transportation can have a significant environmental impact. Additionally, Newman & Co. has made a conscious effort to minimize effluent discharge from their plant, with approximately 90% of production yielding zero discharge to municipal sewer systems. Not to mention, they have even expanded their rainwater harvesting efforts, planning to add nine acres of harvesting system in the coming years.
Paperboard Partnership
Because of their ambitious efforts toward sustainable, environmentally conscious manufacturing, and because of the rapport we’ve developed over the years, we return to Newman for our chipboard over and over again. But ultimately, we go to Newman & Co. because they understand, as we do, that Newman chipboard just makes a great box.
“I sometimes find myself more fascinated with the packaging than the actual product.” Nick tells us. “A quality product demands a quality package. Can you achieve that with plastic? There are many products sold every day that are made more special with a setup box made from rigid paperboard.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Chipboard, or paperboard, is an ideal packaging material that conveys quality. It’s strong but lightweight, versatile and reliable. Paper-based packaging has a crafted sensibility that you can’t replicate with other materials, resulting in boxes that wow. It’s always comforting to know that you and your supply partners are on the same page.
“Bud Newman, President of Newman & Co., always said, ‘People enjoy working with people they like’.”
Well, suffice it to say, we enjoy working with Newman & Co.
Thanks to their continued partnership with Taylor Box, we have been able to create astounding chipboard-based boxes for our discerning clients. With a consistently excellent product and a commitment to outstanding customer service, we’re proud to call Newman & Company Inc. one of our Paperboard Packaging Partners.
See more of what Newman & Co. has to offer
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