Thinking Outside the Box

View This Article in BOSS Magazine

Accurate Box makes cartons that reflect who they are as a company: sturdy, compelling, and in demand

If you’ve ever experienced the bulk buying bonanza that is warehouse club shopping, you’ve seen the work of Accurate Box. The best-known CPG brands in the nation trust Accurate to create rugged, colorful, impeccably branded multipack product cartons, and for good reason: That’s all they do.

Of course, the 79-year-old Paterson, N.J., manufacturer also creates cartons for other markets, including ecommerce, aftermarket automotive, beer and spirits, quick serve restaurants, and private label goods, all with the same quality construction and attention to detail that’s made them a standard bearer in their niche.

What began in 1944 as a family-owned small folding box maker has become one of the largest independent companies in the country specializing in the litho-lamination sector of the corrugated packaging industry. Four generations of the Hirsh family have folded the organization into that top leadership slot, including company founder Henry, son Charlie, who took the reins in the 1960s, and Charlie’s daughter, Lisa, who became majority owner, president, and CEO in 1997. A 41-year industry veteran, Lisa is celebrating 25 years of helming Accurate, now a certified woman-owned business. Lisa’s daughter, Samara Ronkowitz, is also in the business and looking to take over the reins in the near future.

A Hirsh family hallmark is their fearlessness when it comes to investing in the business. In the late 1970s, Charlie’s interest in litho-lamination, a new technique merging graphic design with corrugated, was integral in creating the high graphic niche. “It coincided very well with the growth of club stores and the need for high graphics packaging in the club store environment,” Lisa told BOSS. “We were one of the first companies to perfect that product line in the United States.”

Lisa and her husband, Mark Schlossman, who is currently Accurate’s VP of sales and marketing, worked with Charlie to become experts in the skill. They’ve become the best in the industry by continually focusing on their people, technology, and processes. “Our reinvestment in this product line makes us the best in the country at it,” Lisa said. “We've invested north of $70 million in this operation in the last 10 years, and that number continues to grow.”

At Accurate, every part of the operation is conducted in-house. Every day, 10 truckloads of paper come into their 400,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility, and every day they ship out 25 trucks filled with boxes to their customers across the nation. “We sheet the rolls to the right size, print, corrugate, die cut, glue, and put the finished product on pallets,” Mark explained.

They also make their own printing plates, as well as cutting, tooling, and other components. “Major investments in our processes, plant operations, and facility expansions were made to enable and to support us as a nationwide supplier,” he added, estimating that over the past six years, revenues have increased by over 70%.

A robust and nimble logistics operation enables Accurate to deliver their products anywhere in the U.S. in just three days. In addition to using a customized JIT inventory management system, Accurate takes advantage of backhauling rates; when truck loads are delivered and faced with transporting empty containers on the return, they are offered the unused space at a healthy discount.

As a company dedicated to sustainability, every product Accurate makes is 100% recyclable, 70% of their boxes contain recycled material, and vegetable-based inks are used in the printing process. A quarter of the electricity they use comes from solar energy. Their work in the quick service restaurant industry also demonstrates that commitment. “There’s a lot of clamshell plastic takeout carriers, and because our product is 100% recyclable, it’s a more sustainable option,” Mark said. “That's an industry that we are disrupting.”

Right now, Accurate is bringing their specialty to ecommerce. As Samara, the company’s director of sales and marketing, put it, “When a consumer buys products, even high-ticket ones, they are shipped in a nondescript single use plastic bag. That's bad for the environment.”

When retailers ship their online orders in plain brown boxes, that empty space is a lost marketing opportunity. “We want to bring graphics to that. We believe the box can be an extension of that company's catalog, and we're really focusing our efforts to make our mark by bringing more graphics to ecommerce,” she added.

This family-owned enterprise has cultivated a culture of customer-centricity, safety, respect, and teamwork that has kept some Accurate staffers for over 40 years. “My father never raised his voice,” Lisa recalled. “He would never get out on the plant floor and yell. Our culture is about mutual respect. We hold that core value strongly and try to instill that in everyone. That's key to our success and the reason that we keep employees for as long as we