Throughout the years, Accord Carton has faced a number of opportunities including a large one in 2005.  A small-to-medium size independent folding carton converter at the time, they were large enough to attract some attention from national accounts and small enough to respond in a timely manner.  The hard decision was how to grow affordably; the result was investing with manroland in a large format press that not only satisfied short-term goals but set the stage for bigger success.

In the two years Accord has worked in the large format arena, it has made the company more competitive in the market.  It’s also resulted in higher volume  packaging work with their core customer base of national accounts, which includes mostly food clients but those in the pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and consumer and hardware packaging industries as well.  The recent addition of a third, high-speed Bobst Expertfold gluer and automatic case packer is the latest piece in a 5-year plan to double the volume of its business by 2011.
Accord Carton has experienced a number of crossroad moments in its nearly 70- year history.  Founded by Abraham Codo in 1940, it is now run by third generation family members.  What began as a small box shop on Chicago’s South Side is now a rather sizeable operation that continues to grow in Alsip, a southern suburb.

“Our grandfather Abe started the business in 1940,” said Bill Codo, a VP and one of three sons involved in the day-to-day activity at Accord.  “During the day he would go out and sell cartons, and at night run the equipment with his wife, Lena.  What literally began as a ‘mom and pop’ operation has grown into a strong competitor servicing national accounts with the benefit of large format printing.”

Accord’s strategy to move into large format printing began to unfold when they moved the operation from Chicago to a former Keebler distribution facility in 2004.  The need for additional die cutting capacity was filled by the addition of a new large format due cutter, setting the stage for the transition into large format printing.     After finding an expanding market and outsourcing its large format work, company  officials began a nine month evaluation process before selecting manroland’s large format press.

“The ROLAND 900XXL is a true centerpiece for us.  It is driving our growth and it has been a real workhorse,” said Codo, whose brother, Robert, is the company’s President.  “Our sales have been steadily growing since our move.  Large format has been instrumental in us getting the accounts we wanted and building our sales force. 

“Our ISO certification and AIB Superior rating three years running has made us a credible vendor with national accounts, and large format has kept us competitive with integrated manufacturers.  When it came down to decision time, having quicker make-readies was an issue, but we also chose this press because of the supplier.  We simply felt more comfortable with the people and the organization at manroland.”

The installation of the ROLAND 900 XXL also led Accord to CTP, where they now use a CREO Trendsetter 5467 for plate production.  Before they put the press to work, Accord’s pressmen received a month’s worth of training that has proven to be very beneficial.  With their printservices® package, manroland personnel    completed detailed on-site training as part of the Power Printers training program.

“Our pressmen enjoyed the training and two of our guys were already familiar with the press because of common packaging experience they had previously with a ROLAND 700 press,” said Joe Finger, Accord’s pressroom manager.  “We were swamped with work and they did such a great job training us that we jumped almost immediately into production.”

Looking at the bottom line, has the large format press more than exceeded the company’s expectations?

“Yes it has,” Codo said.  “With any new press installation there will be a few bumps in the road, but manroland did a great job addressing these issues and we remain a satisfied customer.  The CCI (Computer Controlled Inking automated inking    system) in particular has been a tool that really works well and has led to less makeready waste and faster makeready times. 

“As an independent, when we make a decision about equipment vendors we are tying our family’s success to the vendor of choice.  Our hopes and dreams ride heavily on the quality of our vendor’s product and service.  manroland has not let us down.”