In today’s delivery-driven economy, the need for boxes has become even more vital. Last year, corrugated box shipments grew by 9 percent above March 2019 shipments, according to the Fibre Box Association, “boosted by both an additional shipping day and overstocking of household paper products, cleaning supplies and food.”
This year, boxes will carry vaccines to the world. “They will also continue to deliver everyday essentials, pharmaceuticals, kids’ toys, electronics and everything in between,” state Fibre Box Association. “They will facilitate accelerated e-commerce shopping. Boxes will bring it all to our doorstep or ship it anywhere else in the world.”
This increase in demand is what urged Trenton Corrugated Products (TCP) to invest in a new complex piece of machinery that is capable of speeding up the company’s production time.
“We went into the equipment market and bought a piece of equipment in Europe,” said Ian Bernstein, CEO of Trenton Corrugated Product located at 17 Chelten Way in Trenton, New Jersey. “The installers couldn’t get visas because of COVID and all the restrictions on travel.”
The machine TCP purchased was delivered all the way from Spain. Only the installers from the country had the ability to set up its specialty parts. Without the overseas workers, Bernstein could only look at the unassembled pieces sitting in the warehouse of his facility.
“It’s a pretty big machine,” said Bernstein. “It had to be brought down in six shipping crates to our address and offloaded into our plant. We had all these pieces just sitting here taking up space and it was killing me every day.”
The new machine has the potential to elevate TCP’s printing abilities from two color print to three color. It also has the capabilities to add perforations to packaging in one operation. “Right now, to do something like that, we actually have to go on two machines,” said Bernstein. “This machine does it in one.”
The ability to skip an entire second processing job for boxes that need a third color or added perforations was vital for TCP to effectively print the boxes the current demand required. Feeling stuck in the situation at hand, Bernstein began to research how he can get the installers from Spain over to Trenton, NJ during this global pandemic crisis.
Through his investigation, Bernstein found a possible answer. “There’s a specific code, that, for certain technicians, there’s an exemption to be able to get a visa,” he said. “I didn’t know how to go about it or where to get help.”
He continued, “So, I called up George (Sowa, CEO) at Greater Trenton and he made a couple of calls for me and eventually connected us with someone in Senator (Cory) Booker’s office and she was super helpful.”
With the help of Sowa, Governor Phil Murphy’s office and Senator Booker’s office, the installers from Spain were able to gain visas and travel to Trenton to piece together the color printing machine. After a month of waiting, the team of installers finished the project in another month.
“They made a call over to the embassy or sent a letter over the embassy or something forwarding our cause of the situation,” said Bernstein. “Then the guys were able to actually get an appointment and got visas and came here and installed the machine.”
Now complete, the color machine spans the length of 100 feet at the TCP warehouse. The machine’s capabilities allows for product to be produced at a quicker rate during this busy shipping time. “It was great to get the support to be able to bring installers here,” said Bernstein.
Sowa said, “It’s one of those things that’s getting to the right people, at the right time, for the right cause.”
To check out Trenton Corrugated Products, visit https://trentoncorrugated.com/
