(Back Row) Chuck Zeiser, Brian Hunt, Bruce Zeiser, Felix Mueller and Roy Hibbs. (Front Row) John Zeiser and Clarence Penge.
Southern Champion Tray is on the precipice of a rare and remarkable achievement: celebrating nearly 100 years in business. Started by machinist Milt Zeiser in 1927 as a paper dish manufacturer with just four employees, the company has grown its operation into a team of more than 900 across Tennessee, Ohio, and Texas – producing sustainable paperboard packaging for the bakery and food service industries.
Now led by its third and fourth generations, Southern Champion Tray remains a proudly family-owned company, committed to its identity as a true ‘Customer Champion’. Its enduring success stems from a strong culture built on four core values: trustworthy, servant-hearted, relational, and resourceful.
A transformative leap forward
Keeping both customers and employees at the forefront, Southern Champion Tray recently invested $60m in a 320,000 sq ft greenfield facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Housing a fleet of state-of-the-art equipment, the space includes an innovation lab, wellness center, and an outdoor deck overlooking the Tennessee River.
“It was really designed and built with our employees in mind,” said Brian Hunt, President & CEO, Southern Champion Tray. “But from a customer perspective, we made significant investments in automation to drive efficiency and quality. This gives us great confidence as we go to market and continue delivering the level of care our customers expect.”
Earlier this year, Southern Champion Tray added its flagship press, the Heidelberg Boardmaster. With its cutting-edge capabilities, the new inline flexo press replaces a 25-year-old machine and represents a major technological leap forward for the company.
Impressively, the Boardmaster performs ‘on the fly’, non-stop job changeovers – meaning the press prints without interruption from job to job by fully automating the plate cylinder setup and coming onto impression with only thirty feet of waste. Each print deck has two print units: while one unit is busy with production, the second one is being readied for the next print job.
After seeing the changeovers firsthand in their facility, Hunt shared that Southern Champion Tray’s leadership team was struck by the machine’s sheer power and how little waste was produced in a real-world environment. “Right away, our brains were already starting to strategize how we go to market to support our goal of making every interaction effortless for our customers,” he said.
Non-stop changeovers are powered by Intellimatch, which scans the topography of each printing plate in minute detail – enabling fully automatic setting of the printing units. The Intellimatch scanner also detects plate mounting errors, out-of-round print sleeves, and debris before the plate ever gets to the press, which helps prevent print errors while saving time and money downstream.
After just one month of production, Hunt reflected, “When we first saw the Boardmaster technology two years ago, we were hopeful it would be a significant leap forward. But for us, it’s been even more surprising just how transformative that jump has been. While the reduced changeover time has been critical, the graphics capabilities and quality controls have also far exceeded our expectations.”
Since installation, Southern Champion Tray has gained greater uptime and reduced waste, thanks to faster job set-ups and fewer errors with Intellimatch. While still ‘learning the bells and whistles’ of the new press, Hunt anticipates these already impressive performance metrics to continue to improve over time.
Fit for the future
Over the last five to seven years, Southern Champion Tray has experienced growing demand for custom-branded products across its core markets of food service, grocery, bakeries, and event venues. “For our customers, it’s no longer just about providing a delicious donut or baked good. They want their packaging to reflect both their brand and the quality of their product, creating a meaningful and distinct connection with the end-user,” said Hunt.
Historically, flexographic printing has not been efficient enough for shorter run lengths, but the Boardmaster changes that. Its innovative technology allows the company to produce multiple customized SKUs back-to-back with minimal waste – helping it meet rising demand while remaining true to its mission of serving customers with great packaging and distinctive service.
Capable of running at 2,000 ft/min (600 m/min) with a 56” (1425 mm) width – twice the speed of the company’s previous press – the servo-driven Boardmaster enables faster market response, delivering shorter lead times, improved supply reliability, and reduced customer inventory. Its interdeck drying system opens additional opportunities, allowing the company to experiment with multi-stage coatings that could potentially replace the industry-standard polyethylene.
“Combined with the significant investments we’ve made in our facility, employee training, and leadership team, the Boardmaster positions us to define the next chapter of our business. It has also prompted us to rethink how we operate and the opportunities we pursue,” said Hunt.
Confidence in the next era
The Boardmaster marks Southern Champion Tray’s first inline flexo investment with Heidelberg. Hunt noted that his team was particularly impressed by Heidelberg’s deep understanding of competing manufacturers. “It gave us a high level of confidence we were making a good decision,” he said. “When you’re making this level of capital investment, you need to be confident that what you’re purchasing will live up to expectation.”
Confidence transcends all aspects of Southern Champion Tray’s business. From sales and customer service to the company’s truck drivers, confidence extends beyond the technology to every employee – built through its strong foundational culture. “Our team is different in the sense that they are highly trustworthy; they’re highly relational and always looking to solve problems, and we’re very proud of that,” said Hunt.
“United by a shared commitment to employees and customers, Heidelberg is honored to partner with Southern Champion Tray in this next phase of their business,” said Clarence Penge, President, Heidelberg USA. “The Boardmaster marks an important milestone in their journey, and we’re proud to stand alongside a partner whose values so closely reflect our own.”
Looking to the next 100 years, Hunt reflected, “As we start talking about where our business is going in its next era, we see technology as a critical driver of growth. As part of that, the Boardmaster gives our people equipment they can be confident in and the capability to lead and innovate for years to come.”
