Royal Containers Responds to the Current Corrugated Market Conditions
Our industry continues to skyrocket while we face unprecedented volumes as the pandemic persists. The spike in e-commerce and demand for corrugated goods has resulted in a supply chain that is stretched to its limits. Consequently, we are experiencing extended lead times, ranging from 2-4 months, industry-wide.
We are seeing continued price increases due to outages, shortages, and delays in raw materials. Availability is an area of such concern that paper mills and corrugators have had to restrict allocations of products to their customers and some box makers are curtailing the acquisition of new business in order to keep up with customer demand.
As a leader in this industry, we have put together a strategy to grow despite all of these challenges. Here is what Royal is doing to increase our capacity and why we are still taking on new business and not restricting allocations:
- Earlier this year, we made the bold decision to expand our capabilities by relocating our Royal West division. The St. Thomas facility is triple the size of our original London location and will be a state-of-the-art production centre with additional modern printing capacities, effective January 2022.
- We are investing millions of dollars in new equipment. Over the past year, we have purchased a high-speed rotary die-cutter, 4-colour inside/outside DRO specialty folder gluer, flatbed die-cutter, and new automation to feed and stack boxes on Flexos. All equipment will see upgrades including a new conveyor system, two new unitizers, and a new scrap system. These machines will allow us to produce faster, more efficiently and meet our customers’ needs.
- We continue to invest in our Continuous Improvement (C.I.) plan both on the plant floors and in our offices. The C.I. system has proven successful in our Brampton location for 3 years. By utilizing visual workspaces and the implementation of streamlined processes, our employees benefit from work efficiency with less downtime.
- Leadership is one of our four key values. We pride ourselves in our ability to develop leaders, and an environment conducive to leadership. We have found that leadership has been more critical than ever during the pandemic. Our leadership team meets weekly to discuss, collaborate, and action important items. Regular communication results in well-articulated goals that are spread company-wide.
- Supplier delays continue to impact, but our vertical integration strategy minimizes the effect. We are utilizing our vertical integration partners to ensure we maintain a secure source of sheets from our corrugators at Tencorr and ensuring a consistent supply of paper from our papermill, Greenpac. This process provides security for our supply of materials but also boosts our green initiatives with this closed-loop sustainable process.
All of these strategies have allowed us to increase our capacity and reduce customer downtime as much as possible during this unprecedented time of growth. We invite new customers to partner with us at Royal Containers while we continue to support our existing customers.
Thanks Royal Containers for responding to the high demand for corrugated containers by expanding your plant capacity and adding new equipment. Thank you also for keeping us up to date with current conditions in the corrugate market.