There are few companies that would see losing a major client as a something of a blessing in disguise, but that’s exactly how Michigan’s Landaal Packaging Systems saw it. 

Founded in Flint, Mich., in 1959 as Flint Boxmakers, the company started off in the right place at the right time. “General Motors had a ton of plants in the area, so we serviced the automotive industry,” said Matthew Landaal, Plant Manager and  grandson of the company’s founder. The U.S. auto industry was in the last lane at the time, and the company soon expanded beyond boxmaking. In 1962, Flint Boxmakers became Flint Packaging, serving the packaging needs of the auto industry. In 1966, The company opened a second facility 50 miles north in Bay City. “We realized that the two facilities were competing with each other,” said Landaal, “so we decided to go concentrate on packaging in Flint and make the Bay City location the primary boxmaker.” The Bay City facility primarily served large agricultural companies.

By the 1980s, Flint Packaging was highly successful doing contract packaging work for the automotive industry. But by the end of the 2000s, there came a Day of Reckoning. In 2007, the automotive industry took a major hit, and GM would eventually file for bankruptcy. Then the Big Recession hit. “We shrank our packaging facility from 300 or so people to 35,” said Landaal. “We almost closed the doors here. GM was 95 percent of our customer base.”