Miami Valley Packaging Solutions was established in 2009, in the middle of the Great Recession, when Jamie Williams, Kenny Phegley and Don Chmiel purchased the assets of B&L Packaging, a corrugated sheet plant they all worked at for 20 years or more and transitioned the name to Miami Valley Packaging Solutions.
Between 2009 and 2014 the new company’s sales nearly doubled. The growth in sales prompted the need for additional machinery and more space, leading the owners make the decision to the purchase the current 100,000 sq ft facility in Dayton, OH.
Disaster Strikes
A 4:00 AM phone call on Tuesday, March 28th, 2019, revealed the building was struck by one of the nearly 20 tornados that hit the Dayton area on Memorial Day night 2019. With huge gaping holes in all four corners of the building, a partially collapsed roof, a broken sprinkler riser, flooded offices, and no electricity, things looked bleak for MVPS. The entire surrounding area was hit hard, fortunately no one was injured.
But showing the resilience of the owners and their dedicated team of employees, the company worked quickly to get things back in order, working with local contractors to undertake the repairs needed and of course equipment suppliers to ensure all machinery was back in full working order as quickly as possible.
Today, MVPS have 42 employees, working on a single shift pattern. Their 100,000 sq ft facility is about 60,000 sq ft for manufacturing and 40,000 sq ft of finished goods. The company we service a 75-mile radius from Dayton including; Southwest Ohio, and Southeast Indiana. The customers are diverse in both size and products; MVPS have several tier 2 automotive suppliers, plastic extruders, distributers, those who sell to big box retailers and other various manufacturers. They primarily produce one and two color corrugated boxes in quantities from 50 to 50,000. They also convert plastic corrugated for customers in the auto industry.
Upgrading and Investing
“We have slowly transitioned our machinery for the 1960s machines installed in the company we purchased to more modern machinery,” explains Jamie Williams, President, MVPS. “Our first purchase was a plain rotary die cutter, followed by a four color flexo folder gluer. Following the tornado we have installed a specially designed Albatross folder gluer, a two color McKinley rotary die cutter, and a Gazella two-piece stitcher.”
He continues, “As we continued to grow, our large 60 x 120″ two color, letter press continued to get more work, while also continued to have breakdowns. After several months of expensive patchwork repairs, we decided it needed to be replaced with a new machine to improve efficiency and quality.”
Williams and his fellow Directors went to market and had been impressed by several Apstar installations that they had seen with the team at Haire Group. “We began the ordering process in August 2022 and the machine was fully installed in October 2023,” adds Williams.
In Detail
The Apstar HG2 1632 is a 66″ x 126″ two color rotary die-cutter with a full slotting section and AG Stacker.
The APSTAR HG2 series is setting a new standard of performance in the corrugated industry with cutting-edge technology that comes standard on every machine. Every important feature necessary for flexo printing and consistent production rates is incorporated on the Apstar HG2 rotary die-cutter.
With its extended feed and print sections, inline sheet cleaning, chambered ink metering with twin ink pumps, and its ability to easily expand with your market opportunities, this rotary die cutter includes many standard features to ensure your success. These include:
- SUN Lead Edge feeder;
- SUN MircoGrind for a consistent cutting and creasing surface;
- Siemens PLCs and touch screens throughout;
- Impulse dust management system;
- Complete computer controls for faster set-ups and repeatable quality;
- Extended length vacuum transfer feed section for better feed to first down print registration;
- Praxair anilox rolls, CUE blankets, Rexroth, ABB, SEW Euro drive, and ARO.
“Haire was fantastic throughout the entire process including coordinating their efforts with C & M Conveyor and AG Stacker,” confirms Williams. “It is performing as well or better than we expected. The operators all love the new line and customers are happy with the excellent quality and consistency of the boxes.”
He goes on, “But it doesn’t just stop there for our investments. We are currently expanding our trucking fleet and have plans to upgrade our scrap system and unitizers in the next year or two as well.”
Williams concludes, “We have known and dealt with both Haire and C&M for over 20 years. AG for over 10 years. We have great relationship with all their reps. We might not be the biggest sheet plant in the region, but each of the suppliers treats us as it we were!”
