“Happy people
do better work.”
–J. Miller
cause neither Campbell nor AD&D owned an offset press.
Nearly 30 years later, SCT-Texas has prospered with
organic growth.
The Right Choice
It’s been an eventful few years for SCT-Texas.
Long-time General Manager Bob Nicol retired in July
after 20 years in charge. Zeiser, who serves on the Paperboard Packaging Council’s board of directors, tapped Jim
Miller, a former executive of the Olan Mills photography
company with extensive customer service experience. He
had been with Southern Champion for 15 months, managing customer service in Tennessee.
Miller has proven he was fit for the job.
“I’ve learned a lot more than I expected in a short time,”
Miller says, giving credit to Production Manager Robi Siklosi and Finishing Department Manager Jeff Terral. Siklosi
is a 25-year veteran of the company and Terral joined the
company six years ago, after having worked for Gulf States.
“I had to rely on the knowledge of Robi and Jeff,” he
says. “Had those two not been here, I probably wouldn’t
have been the right choice.
Zeiser says one of the reasons the Texas plant is so suc-
cessful is the leaders there always have taken ownership of
the operation.
“There are no owners there, but they run it like it’s their
own,” he says. “They take great care of customers and run one
of the best printing and rapid response operations in Texas.”
At a Glance:
Southern Champion Tray
Custom Packaging Division
Location: Mans;eld, Texas
Established: 1981, in current plant since 1985
Management: General Manager Jim Miller
Annual revenue: Less than $20 million
Footprint: 110,000 sq ft
Employees: 74 hourly, 12 salary
Mix: 77 percent food, 19 percent consumer good,
4 percent light pharmaceutical
Key equipment: KBA Rapida 106, KBA Rapida 105, two
Bobst SP 104-ER Autoplaten diecutters with blanker sections,
a Bobst 102 diecutter, a Kodak computer-to-plate system,
a Bobst Alpina gluer, three Jagenberg gluers.
Easy to Love
Customer service is an area of focus for Miller and his
team, and SCT-Texas has a knack for responding rapidly
to customers who are in a bind, Zeiser says.
“They don’t want every job to be an emergency,” he
says of his managers in Texas. “But they take great care of
people who need two- and three-day turnaround.”
The plant is able to do so, Miller says, because it isn’t
so big. It keeps its management staff as flat as possible so
managers can make quick, collaborative decisions.
