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My name is Gary Rashleigh (see biography link below). I am the Regional Sales Manager for Bay Corrugated Container, Inc. In February 2000, Ford Motor Company and Bay Corrugated Container officially began a partnership that named Bay Corrugated the sole supplier of corrugated products to the Ford Customer Service Division contract packagers. My role in this partnership is to serve as the lead contact person interfacing with FCSD engineers on a new carton consolidation project that impacts the contract packagers.
While this partnership represents a significant step forward, our two companies have a long history together. Bay Corrugated began supplying Ford’s contract packagers with corrugated products in the late 1960’s when we added Ternes Packaging as a customer. We were selected as FCSD’s Tier 1 supplier based on our company’s record of outstanding customer service, our production capacity, our fast order turns, and our innovation in both package design and systems management.
Bay Corrugated Container Inc., is an independent corrugated converter and a recognized industry leader that supplies corrugated containers, pallets, and other related materials to customers who package automotive components, light industrial goods, service products, and general manufacturing merchandise. Our organization maintains certification as an ISO 9001 organization through United Registrar of Systems, Ltd. We are headquartered in Monroe, Michigan and also maintain facilities in Temperance, Michigan and Loudonville, Ohio. In addition, a sister entity, World Corrugated Container Inc., was started in Albion, Michigan in 1991 to better service our customer base.
Bay opened for business in December 1963 as a corrugated sheet plant in Toledo, Ohio. In 1974, Bay moved to its current facility in Monroe, Michigan and installed its first corrugator. Subsequently, the company began a commitment to maintain a highly automated manufacturing operation utilizing state-of-the-art box making equipment and the very latest technology and systems available. This commitment is exemplified in the $17 million expansion we completed in 1999. This expansion added 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space to house a new 98-inch fully automated BHS Corrugator. The BHS Corrugator allows us to manufacture board ranging from E-flute to triple wall and handle multiple flute changes while running.
The initial outgrowth of our partnership with FCSD began in December of 1999 when we embarked on a goal of reducing packaging complexities through a carton consolidation program. In order to assist the contract packagers in improving flow, increasing efficiency and reducing the amount of on-hand packaging material, FCSD engineers and sales service staff from Bay sought to reduce the universe of 5,448 cartons through a systematic consolidation program.
Certain carton styles and materials were retained to ensure adequate part protection. A computer program was then developed to read and batch cartons in order to move lower volume cartons of like size into higher volume cartons. A one-inch increment in all dimensions was used on the first consolidation. This initial effort has produced a reduction in the available carton universe to 2,000 containers.
Learn more about the author of this article, Gary Rashleigh, in this months "Who's Talking" article.
