The biggest independent packaging company in the Pacific Northwest, Alliance Packaging dates back to 1967 when Gordon Younger decided to set up his own company
VISIONCUT 1.6. (Credit: BOBST)
Leading US corrugated box manufacturer, Alliance Packaging is using a range of BOBST converting equipment for both conventionally and digitally printed corrugated board, helping the company to provide high-quality packaging with short lead times to small- and medium-sized customers.
The biggest independent packaging company in the Pacific Northwest, Alliance Packaging dates back to 1967 when Gordon Younger decided to set up his own company. Initially known as Seattle Packaging, the business merged with Sound Container in 2001 and Alliance Packaging was formed. Headquartered in Renton, WA, it covers more than a million square feet of manufacturing and warehousing space with converting plants in Seattle, Spokane, Portland (OR), and Bozeman (MT), and warehouses in Medford and Nampa. The company remains in the hands of the Younger family and employs around 500 staff across its sites.
Delivering high-quality corrugated packaging and point of sale solutions to customers in North America, the company relies on a full complement of finishing equipment from BOBST. An interesting point about Alliance is that just in the last five years, the group has installed, or is scheduled to install, a product from each of the Swiss manufacturer’s corrugated product lines, from flexo folder-gluers to litho-laminators and die-cutters.
Adding value with custom packaging
The company also provides traditional brown boxes printed with just one or two colors, but as Leland pointed out, “We’re not about massive volume, that’s not our primary market. We work a lot with small entrepreneurs who are buying in quantities of 500, 1,000 or 1,500 boxes for their products, which we can do with our digital printing capabilities. This is what sets us apart from an integrated corrugated board mill. They don’t have that agility and won’t touch the smaller volume jobs.”
Continuing investment with BOBST
As mentioned, the past five years has seen a raft of new investments. In 2018, the Spokane site wanted to replace a previous-generation BOBST die-cutter, so the team began to investigate the market, but soon decided to stay with BOBST and bought a VISIONCUT 1.6 PR Autoplaten die-cutter.
Versatility and productivity gains
The versatility of the BOBST machines have been a major factor for Alliance in optimizing productivity and maximizing product variation. Leland explained, “When we chose the EXPERTFOLD 165, we did so because it can run a box as small as a folding carton machine, yet as large as a regular corrugated one, which meant we could replace two machines with one from BOBST and we were ecstatic about that.”
Looking ahead, 2023 will see the installation of a MASTERSTAR sheet-to-sheet laminator, a single-face sheet delivery system, and VISIONCUT 1.6 PR Autoplaten die-cutter, as Alliance Packaging Group continues to invest with BOBST to maximize opportunities in the short-run, value-added market.
Source: Company Press Release