As IndustryNet reported in May 2017, the U.S. packaging industry is seeing rapid growth. Experts anticipated at the time that sales growth would remain strong through the year.
Similarly, box companies in the U.S. reported growth across all regions. Rigid box makers stood out in the industry.
Packaging manufacturers on the whole saw an increase in sales (.24 percent) to nearly $57.2 billion. Nationally, five percent of companies reported employment increases, slightly higher than four percent for U.S. manufacturing overall.
The Wall Street Journal reported the Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index fell in November, yet it remains "solidly in growth mode." In fact, recent economic data reveals, the U.S. "has an important manufacturing base, which represents roughly 15 percent of output." About 40 percent of the foreign direct investment is from the U.S. manufacturing sector.
Top ten box companies in the U.S.
There are 1,168 box and container manufacturers across the country. The Midwest leads impressively with with 313 total, or 26.8 percent of all companies. Other regions follow: Middle Atlantic (183); South Atlantic (170); Pacific (164); West South Central (115); East South Central (93); New England (83); and Mountain (47).
The top 10 companies by manufacturing facility square footage:
• Service Container Co., LLC; Poway, California; 450 million square feet
• Pacific Western Container; Santa Ana, California; 360 million square feet
• Michigan Box Co.; Detroit, Michigan; 300 million square feet
• Tyler Corrugated Box, Inc.; Tyler, Texas; 75 million square feet
• Visual Packaging Corp.; Haskell, New Jersey; 50 million square feet
• Federal Industries Corp.; Plymouth, Minnesota; 30 million square feet
• Graphic Packaging International, Inc.; Elk Grove Village, Illinois; 2,707,581 square feet
• Rusken Packaging, Inc.; Cullman, Alabama; 1,575,000 square feet
• International Paper Co.; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; 560,000 square feet
• Howell Packaging; Elmira, New York; 509,000 square feet
Sales
The top 10 companies reporting sales growth (ranked by the number of employees):
• Rusken Packaging, Inc.; Cullman, Alabama; 300 employees
• Bell Container Corp.; Newark, New Jersey; 250 employees
• Cascades Containerboard Packaging, Lancaster Div.; Lancaster, New York; 110 employees
• Harris Packaging Corp.; Haltom City, Texas; 100 employees
• Omaha Box Co.; Omaha, Nebraska; 78 employees
• Landaal Packaging Systems, Delta Containers Div.; Bay City, Michigan; 52 employees
• Tri-State Crating & Pallet Co.; Paterson, New Jersey; 45 employees
• Kentucky Paper Box Co.; Louisville, Kentucky; 32 employees
• Central Kentucky Corrugated Specialists, Inc.; Mount Sterling, Kentucky; 30 employees
• Thomas Container & Packaging; Pomona, California; 25 employees
Market trends influencing the U.S. box industry
Sale increases in subsectors can be attributed to a number of trends. The rigid container market, for example, has benefited from the rise in the demand for convenience foods domestically as well as internationally. Sales were up 12.75 percent, significantly more than any other market.
Wooden box manufacturing was second with a 4.16 percent rise in sales.
The forecast remains good for rigid container manufacturers as lifestyles change, one-person households remain on the rise and disposable incomes allow for the purchase of popular packaged convenience foods.
The corrugated box market, up .23 percent in sales this year to $55,260,049,984, is an increase after remaining relatively flat for the last 15 years.
Experts attribute this growth to e-commerce and the new consumer behavior of being able to place orders from mobile phones.
Forecasts are quite good for this market with e-commerce projected to surpass $60.4 billion by 2021.
In fact, a study by Freedonia Custom Research indicates "corrugated boxes will become the largest component of e-commerce packaging demand, rising from $680 million in 2015 to $980 million in 2020 and nearly $1.7 billion in 2025."
The success and popularity of subscription boxes in the U.S., which experts in Australia liken to be "as addictive as gambling," also fuel an increased need for box production.
The growth has been quite explosive, expanding by more than 800 percent since 2014 and including everything from ingredients to cook a full meal to beauty and shaving products. About 5.7 million subscription box shoppers buy from more than 2,000 services annually.
Over the last year, sales have remained unchanged in the following subsectors: gift, plastic, chipboard, jewelry, set-up, paperboard, folding, and paper folding.
Jobs in the box industry edge up
At the time of this writing, 47,158 workers were employed in U.S. box industry. This is a 3.26 percent increase in employees over last year.
Industry-wide, except for New England where statistics remained unchanged, employment is also up in all other regions of the United States. Of companies reporting employment growth to IndustryNet, 32% are located in the Midwest; 17% in the Middle Atlantic.; 12.5% in both the East South Central region and South Atlantic; 10% in both the West South Central and Pacific; and 5% in the Mountain region.
The top 10 companies by number of employees:
• ReadyOne Industries, Packaging Div.; El Paso, Texas; 1,300 employees
• Southern Champion Tray LP; Chattanooga, Tennessee; 550 employees
• International Packaging Corp.; Pawtucket, Rhode Island; 500 employees
• Triad Packaging, Inc.; Athens, Alabama; 450 employees
• Graphic Packaging International, Inc.; Elk Grove Village, Illinois; 365 employees
• WestRock Co.; Mebane, North Carolina; 350 employees
• Packaging Corp. of America; Waco, Texas; 350 employees
• Shoreline Container, Inc.; Holland, Michigan; 320 employees
• Smurfit Kappa North America; City of Industry, California; 310 employees
• Rusken Packaging, Inc.; Cullman, Alabama; 300 employees
The forecast remains good for rigid container manufacturers as lifestyles change, one-person households remain on the rise and disposable incomes allow for the purchase of popular packaged convenience foods.
The corrugated box market, up .23 percent in sales this year to $55,260,049,984, is an increase after remaining relatively flat for the last 15 years.
Experts attribute this growth to e-commerce and the new consumer behavior of being able to place orders from mobile phones.
The top 10 companies reporting employee growth (ranked by the number of employees on site):
• Southern Champion Tray LP; Chattanooga, Tennessee; 550 employees
• Triad Packaging, Inc.; Athens, Alabama: 450 employees
• Shoreline Container, Inc.; Holland, Michigan; 320 employees
• Bell Container Corp.; Newark, New Jersey; 250 employees
• Diamond Packaging Holdings, LLC; Rochester, New York; 250 employees
• Packaging Corporation of America-Denver East; Denver, Colorado; 200 employees
• Smurfit Kappa; Von Ormy, Texas: 200 employees
• Packaging Corporation of America; Denver, Colorado; 150 employees
• International Paper Co.; Barrington, New Jersey; 150 employees
• Interstate Corrpack; Cambridge, Maryland; 130 employees
Subsectors with increases in employment:
• Gift: 87 employees, 70.59 percent increase
• Plastic: 311 employees, 10.68 percent increase
• Wooden: 1,717 employees, 5.66 percent increase
• Corrugated: 30,568 employees, 3.93 percent increase
• Folding: 1,407 employees, 3.30 percent increase
• Paper folding: 5,746 employees, 2.26 percent increase
The following remained unchanged: paperboard (1,293 employees), rigid (413 employees) and chipboard (198 employees). Set-up fell by .95 percent to 1,253.
Over the next few years, manufacturers can expect to seem more positive signs in the U.S. box and container manufacturing industry.
Businesses interested in connecting with all U.S. box and container companies can turn to IndustryNet for the most up-to-date information in the industry.
For more information on U.S. box companies
IndustryNet is a one-stop resource for all of your industrial supply needs, providing information on 400,000 U.S. manufactures as well as suppliers of more than 10,000 industrial products and services. To connect with a box company near you, or with any type of industrial supplier or service, start your free search on IndustryNet. Here, you can request a quote, contact a company directly, connect on social media, obtain a list of industrial suppliers in your area and more.
