In the fall of 2014, we visited Cenveo Labels& Packaging in Charlotte, North Carolina.Charlotte is just one location of thecompany, a powerhouse in its multiple and

diversified fields of packaging, labels, shrinksleeves, commercial printing, envelopes,fulfillment/warehousing, and other relatedservices and offerings. Operating in over 100

facilities across the United States,Cenveo also stretches its globalreach with operations in theCaribbean, Canada, India andAsia. Our goal during the visitwas to understand theiradvances in folding cartonproduction and to learn moreabout their rapidly growingposition in the market.

CENVEO’S NEW FINISHING TECHNOLOGY FROM BOBST ADDS VALUE FOR THE ENDUSE CUSTOMER BY ENSURING QUALITY AND SPEED TO MARKET. BY NICK GRIFFIN.

46 Folding Carton Industry. January/February 2015

“Cenveo management has deemed foldingcartons as one of the more attractive areas forgrowth,” according to Mark Whitehead, GeneralManager. “Branching out in this area is a strategicinitiative for the company.” Charlotte’s primarymarkets include pharmaceutical, tobacco,cosmetics, food & beverage and health & beautyproducts.“We run a very diverse level of complex

packaging within the facility here,” he says. “Thisoperation has differentiated itself by becoming amarket leader in ink technology for sheet fedapplications. In less than three years this hasaccelerated us from being a small player with aspecialized capability into a big player with aclean process for manufacturing printedproducts.” Whitehead explains that removingcontaminants from inks and the production

TRANSITIONING INTO A

BIG PLAYERCenveo’s Charlotte, North Carolina, facility.

Mark Whitehead, General Manager.

48 Folding Carton Industry. January/February 2015

process in general, “gives the end customera greater level of integrity than what theywould have with a conventional process.”When asked to further clarify what that

means, Whitehead replies, “We’vedeveloped a process which results in lessthan 50 parts per billion of potentialcontaminants from mineral oils or other oils.We are the leader in North America in thisregard, as established through validationtests, gas chromatic tests and spectralanalysis tests, showing that the resultswe’ve achieved here can be reproducedtime and time again. This is an enormouscompetitive edge because of our four yearsof experience and the substantialinvestment which we’ve applied, as well asthe calibration and validation tests which wedo on a regular basis on the equipmentwhich runs this product.”The company’s specialization in ink with

low contaminants is credited with not onlybroadening their trading area but also takingthem into new markets. “We’re beingbrought into new segments where therehave been recalls because of product thathas been tainted by ink or a component ofthat ink. So having a unique ink processgives us new opportunities in food and otherhighly sensitive items where risk avoidanceis a paramount concern. In fact, some of ourcustomers also use our ‘clean’ concept intheir marketing,” Whitehead says.

Market Leader

When asked to describe the Charlotte plant,Whitehead says, “We have approximately150 permanent employees in this plant andare supplemented with temporaryemployees in production based on demand.We have four offset printing presses andtwo web-fed flexo presses.” In addition,Cenveo’s Charlotte facility has twoExpertcut diecutters and six Bobst folder-gluers to make up the finishing equipment,including a new Expertfold.“Looking at new equipment, whether it is

for increased accuracy or verification orother advances, it is part of the corporateinitiative of Cenveo — investing in newequipment is one of the steps we take as amarket leader. When I first came to thisplant, we had a Bobst and anothermanufacturer’s diecutter. We conducted adetailed review of the capabilities weneeded and the level of uptime andperformance expectation we needed. It wasfrom this evaluation that we decided theBobst equipment offered our best option forthe long-term and our strategy of being astate-of-the-art provider,” Whitehead says.“We looked at historic data, uptime and

downtime, the speed of makeready and theability to get running at maximum speeds ina very short amount oftime.” In addition touptime and reliability,

Whitehead says the technical support andthe quality of technicians, if they would needthem, along with the simplicity of training theoperators and the availability of remotesupport offered through the CUBE system,was also important.“The setups are more efficient on Bobst

machines than on the equipment theyreplaced. Service, spare parts and trainingalso played into our decision with theavailability of qualified engineers and thespeed of their response was a key factor inour decision making process,” he continues.“Once we validated the throughput and

labor savings it would deliver, it was a verysimple decision. Cenveo is a very business-minded company and all decisions have tomeet well defined and very aggressivecriteria to make sure that the company’sresources are being used efficiently andeffectively. It was determined that the R.O.I.on the Bobst equipment, in addition tomeeting these goals, was one of the betterones,” he says. “Cenveo, being a publicly-traded company, its primary responsibility isto the shareholders, so we’re always lookingfor capital equipment which has bothlongevity and proven returns.“As our business grew, we transferred

one of our (Bobst) CER 102 blanking

BIG PLAYER

The Charlotte facility has sixBobst folder-gluers, including

a new Expertfold.

Cenveomanagement hasdeemed folding

cartons as one of the more attractive areas for growth,” says Mark Whitehead.

diecutters to our plant in the DominicanRepublic. That’s actually the first, and to ourknowledge, the only blanker on the island.So it was logical that as they grew theirbusiness, we had the ability to provide themwith a better and more advanced tool toenhance the quality of their performance.This opened the way for the addition of anew Expertcut for our Charlotte facility. Itwas a win-win because by transferringsome of our technology to them andreplacing it here in the United States with aneven more advanced Bobst, we were ableto meet the strategic goals for both plants,”he says. Within a year of obtaining the Expertcut

106 in Cenveo’s Charlotte facility, theadvantages it offered became increasinglyobvious and a second Expertcut waspurchased. “I think that both of thosemachines have taken us to an increasedlevel of quality and professionalism, inaddition to productivity, without over-complicating the operators’ skill set. Theoutput of the machines has certainly met theexpectations set forth in our originalevaluations and therefore in the capitalrequest. We’re seeing a very good return,”Whitehead says.“Having the value-added capability of the

Expertcut, with plus or minus four thousandsof an inch in print-to-cut accuracy from aregistration perspective, is certainly of valueto our packaging customers, especially inthe pharmaceutical market. Business isdefinitely trending up,” he adds.

101 Years ofExperience

Our conversations at Cenveo also involvedRoy Freeze, the plant’s ContinuousImprovement Engineer. When asked toexplain his title Roy stated, “I’m in charge ofquality — everything from manufacturing,structural design, printing, through todiecutting and folding/gluing. I direct andhelp implement Lean Initiatives and look forways to eliminate waste. Basically,partnering and sharing some responsibilitieswith the Plant Manager, this job brings meinto every department.

“It’s challenging and that’s what I like best.It’s not mundane because every day there’ssomething different. So yeah, we have a lot ofdiverse business and we’re looking ateverything that comes along. We’re not juststaying within one niche market, we’re alwayslooking outside as well.”

Folding Carton Industry. January/February 2015 49

BIG PLAYER

After gluing on the Expertfold.

Roy Freeze, ContinuousImprovement Engineer.

Within a year ofobtaining the Expertcut106 in Cenveo’sCharlotte facility, theadvantages it offeredbecame increasinglyobvious and a secondExpertcut waspurchased

50 Folding Carton Industry. January/February 2015

Freeze describes the Bobst equipmentas extremely beneficial to the CenveoCharlotte operation. “The best part of the106 diecutter is how it handles anyvariations between printing and the intendeddiecut. Also, the run speeds on thosemachines improve our overall efficiency.”

really good at what they’re doing. Also onthat machine we installed the Wonderfoldoption for back-folding. We can do frontfold, back fold and it can actually breaknicks when we need that for a carton, suchas a slit or something else out of theordinary.”Experience and speed-to-market are

cited by Freeze as other featuredcharacteristics of the Charlotte facility. “Howquickly we can bring products to the marketis one thing that helps us out. We have avery diverse group of individuals here and alot of experience within folding cartons.Among the three production managers, webring about 101 years of experience to thetable for this plant. We also have someoperators with the same number of yearsand, with Mark leading the charge, I thinkour people make a big difference.”

Bringing Value

A visit to an operation as multi-faceted andfast moving as Cenveo’s Charlotte facilitywouldn’t be complete without asking aboutchallenges its key management sees goingforward. Whitehead says, “That’s aquestion we ask ourselves every week.Competing for the micro-cent on eachcarton is just not where we want to be. Wesee ourselves as an operation which bringsadded value. We’re not integrated wherewe’re measured by how many tons ofboard we convert because by bringingvalue to the end customer, we have a realdifferentiation.”Freeze says he sees a lot of change.

“Our whole operation is changing and it hasin the last six months. I consider myself tobe a change agent and getting new thingsincorporated into this plant in a very timelymanner improves how we do business witha market that’s also changing.”Whitehead concludes, “We’re growing

both our top line and our bottom line. Wewill exceed our budget this year as we didlast year and as we did the previous year.Charlotte and the entire Cenveoorganization are always looking atprocesses that can help us remain marketleaders.” �

BIG PLAYER

Pre-breaking on the Expertfold.

Referring to the new Expertfold, Freezeattests that, “Setup time is very quickbecause of the ability to easily recall wherewe are with all of our settings and quicklyreturn to them for repeat orders. It’s provenitself a very easy machine to learn. In a shortamount of time our operators have gotten

I consider myself to be a change agent andgetting new things incorporated into this plant

in a very timely manner improves how we do businesswith a market that’s also changing,” Roy Freeze says.