Curtis Packaging Shares its Secret

Specialty packaging manufacturer offers custom luxe looks and uncommon services.

By Janet Herlihy, Editor

Curtis Packaging, originally established in 1845, has en­tered the 21st Century under new ownership as a state-of-the-art manufacturer of paperboard cartons.

These are not your everyday cardboard boxes. Rather, Cur­tis is a specialist offering everything it takes, from structural and graphic design through inventory management to serve its clients with the latest in sophisticated packaging, complete with custom die-cuts and special printing effects. Major markets supplied include health and beauty, sports, liquor, entertainment, computer software and pharmaceuticals.

When CPD visited Curtis, we almost missed the entrance on Berkshire Rd. in Sandy Hook, CT, as the sign that marks it is a small, modest placard. The single lane driveway across a country stream makes the large, thoroughly modern operation which reveals itself in stages, even more of a surprise. “Curtis is the best kept secret in New England,” said Donald R. Droppo, who became the sole owner, chairman and chief executive officer in 1989.

When Droppo acquired Cur­tis Pack­aging, he became the latest in a series of owner operators with the vision to grow the business through innovation, service and flexibility. So far on his watch, the company has more than doubled in size with annual sales now at $25 million from approximately 120 active accounts.

A CPA by training, Droppo was working for KPMG, specializing in mid-sized companies, when he became acquainted with Curtis Packaging. Having always wanted to run his own business, Droppo explained, “I had enough knowledge of Curtis to see the potential to build on its foundation. I’ve learned it’s a good company, with good people and good customers. We’ve added equipment and continue to build the team and empower our people.”

Guided by the questions, “What can we do to make this a better company, better serve our base customers and attract new business?,” Droppo said that the first five to six years was spent with “a lot of learning,” and in the last five to six years, “We’ve done a lot with equipment and technology to make Curtis the best at what it does.” That included investing $15 million in new equipment and building a 40,000 square foot addition.

Anthony “Tony” Colica Sr. joined Curtis in 1994 and serves as vice president of sales. Coming from Estée Lauder, Colica brings a knowledge of the cosmetics, fragrance and personal care markets that serves the company well.

“Curtis capabilities are a great match for the requirements of cosmetic packaging,” said Colica. “We offer hot stamping, printing on foil, printing on plastic, UV coating, full in-house ser­vice, just-in-time inventory and delivery to produce high end packaging.”

Curtis Packaging now em­ploys 150 people and runs 24 hours a day, five days a week. “Our big presses run three shifts a day and the major die cutting and finishing lines also run 24 hours a day. It makes Curtis very productive and enables us to provide quick turn-arounds,” Droppo ex­plained. “In the 13 years I’ve been here, there’s never been a delivery problem.”
Perhaps the greatest single change that Droppo has made is computerization. From design, to manufacturing to administrative functions, computerized operations allow for speedy and efficient processing. On the plant floor, computer controlled, state-of-the-art printing, die-cutting equipment, a computerized knife bender, a Gerber die maker and Bobst Mediamatic Gluer allow for high quality production of custom cartons. A computer-to-plate system was scheduled to be installed in July and every job is carefully tracked. “We have systems that us tell where everything is, all the time,” Droppo said.

Specialized Services

Curtis specialties include: added value folding cartons, hot stamping, in-line UV coating, holography and printing on plastics and foil as well as vendor managed inventory. “We now manage over 800 SKUs for one major customer. We manufacture all the different cartons, warehouse them and then ship the product as needed,” Droppo said.

The company offers an in-house design team that can take a customer’s need and turn it into a great looking carton. Droppo noted, “We win projects based on structural design.” Prototypes can be made up to help the client visualize the finished carton. He added, “Sometimes the initial concept from a client can’t be run on the new equipment, so we re-interpret it so that we can manufacture it.”

After the creative team has created a design, a project moves to the prepress department, where proofs are made as well as three-dimensional samples. Once the customer signs off on the proof, the project is printed. The 51” KBA Rapida press can lay down as many as seven colors on foil. Curtis is also a specialist in hot stamping foil and adding holograms.
The company maintains its own tooling shop that makes all the dies, cutting counters and stripping tools the operation uses. The newest blanking die cut press, the Bobst 130 ER, which creates the complex shapes and windows that will eventually fold together to make a carton, runs as many as 7,000 sheets an hour.

Once the sheets have been printed, UV coated in-line (to add shine and a layer of protection to the surface), they are die cut, celloed, glued and then boxed flat to be shipped or warehoused.

The product that is warehoused is bar coded and updated to the company’s computerized information system. It is shipped whenever necessary for “just in time delivery so that the customer doesn’t have to worry about storing it or running out of it,” Droppo explained.

Curtis is ready to tell its secret. “We are in a controlled growth mode,” said Droppo. “We have added lots of capacity and the new technology has allowed us to make more, better and faster.”

Droppo has a plan. He explained, “My vision is to continue our tradition of having our existing customers happy that they are doing business with Curtis and to have new customers pleased that they made the decision to have Curtis meet their packaging requirements. We may not serve every company that needs packaging, but those we do serve will benefit immeasurably.”