Packaging Express are a family owned business, with a long history of successfully operating corrugated box plants throughout the United States.
Jim Davis founded Packaging Express in 1998 after working over 30 years with other box manufacturers, (including DeLine Box Company). Davis’ father-in-law (T.J. McLaughlin) owned and operated three successful box plants in Iowa and Minnesota during the 1930s-1960s (Waterloo Corrugated). Today, Jim’s son Matt Davis, owns and operates Packaging Express with the same expertise and pride that his father and grandfather had. Passion for creating quality custom boxes in the Davis family is unquestionable!
Packaging Express is still located in Colorado Springs, CO, 55 miles south of Denver. The company now employs 25 people with an average tenure of nine years. In late 2020, the company moved from 45,000 sq ft of factory space to 94,000 sq ft of floor space. “At the time, we added a new Baysek die cutter along with significant improvements to our scrap system,” explains Matt Davis. “Then, in 2022, we added a new Emba 175 flexo folder gluer.”
Broad Customer Base
Davis continues, “Almost all of our customers are located in the state of Colorado, mainly Denver and Colorado Springs. Due to the fact that there is not one type of industry that dominates the region, we serve a variety of different industries such as manufacturing, consumer goods, food and beverage, e-commerce and many more.”
Why Choose 175 QS Ultima?
“After moving into our new facility in late 2020, we began working on our 10-year strategy and discussed what would grow our business for the next 10 to 20 years,” continues Davis. “What investment would be the biggest bang for our buck? Looking at the increasing trend for smaller boxes from e-commerce companies, we concluded that the Emba 175 QS Ultima would be the best long-term investment for Packaging Express.”
He adds, “Packaging Express is located in a quite special market in Colorado. The I-25 corridor is very much like an island, with the Rocky Mountains on the west side and the plains on the east side. Along I-25 you have Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Denver, and Fort Collins. So, it is not easy for box plants out of state to ship into this island of sorts. That gives Packaging Express a huge advantage with the new Emba 175. We have the fastest box maker in Colorado, with the ability to offer 3-color direct print at up to 500 boxes per minute.”
Committed Partnership
Talking about the decision making process, Davis expands, “We made a huge commitment to the Emba 175 QS by buying a brand-new machine from Sweden. We even sent the employees that would be operating the new machine to Sweden for one week to train and learn about everything on the Emba from the manufacturer and experts.
“Once the machine was installed in Colorado Springs and we began running it, we launched an aggressive marketing campaign. Our intent was to build brand awareness of Packaging Express having “The Fastest Box Maker in Colorado.” Our marketing campaign included an open house for our current customers, post cards, social media posts, a dedicated page on our website and 3 custom videos online,” he continues.
How is Ultima Performing?
Davis is happy, that is for sure. “We are extremely happy with the performance of the Emba 175,” he says. “Again, we invested in training our employees to operate the new machine before it even left Sweden. We have had the Emba team out to Colorado Springs numerous times to provide further training on operating and maintaining the machine. We feel very confident in our ability to run the machine and produce quality boxes.”
He adds, “We have been running plain brown boxes, custom boxes with direct print, and digitally printed boxes. We run a lot of small orders, but our largest single order so far has been for 90,000 boxes.”
Packaging Express always prides itself on speed and ease of doing business. “When you call our number, someone will pick up the phone and help you immediately,” concludes Davis. “No phone tree or automated messaging. We also work hard to make our customers successful in their businesses. We are a nimble team and our goal has always been to be our customers number 1 supplier. The Emba helps us deliver on our promise, that is for sure.”
