NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT – The Independent Carton Group (ICG), an association of 21 independently owned and operated folding carton manufacturers, celebrated the 20-year partnership with Clearwater Paper (www.clearwaterpaper.com) during their November quarterly meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. Close to sixty ICG members and designated supplier partners were treated to a plant tour of Clearwater Paper’s plant in Cypress Bend, Arkansas as part of the three-day meeting.

“We thought it very fitting to have this meeting correspond with the twenty-year anniversary of when the Clearwater Paper (then Potlatch) first partnered with the ICG to be our predominate supplier of SBS board to our members,” said Jay Willie, ICG Director.

While Clearwater Paper provides ICG members with quality SBS board they also assist member companies to enhance manufacturing practice and operations through the deployment of their Converting Solutions Team. The “CST” group are seasoned experts from within the industry. They have over one hundred fifty years of manufacturing experience, from printing, die-cutting, folding and gluing. All members have extensive backgrounds with strengths in Facility Assessments, SMEDS, and Kaizen Studies.

“Clearwater Paper has been an outstanding partner over the years,” continues Willie. “Through their Converting Solutions Team they have helped our members save money and time in their manufacturing practices, helping our members grow sales in these challenging times. Clearwater Paper brings a lot of value to our members.”

“Clearwater Paper is immensely proud of our long partnership with ICG. Welcoming members to our Cypress Bend, Arkansas mill, twenty years after the start of the relationship, seems fitting to honor the partnership. We look forward to the next twenty years of this relationships,” said Clive Gillanders, director of sales for Clearwater Paper’s pulp and paperboard division.

The ICG was established forty years ago as a group of independently owned folding carton firms to provide the original five member companies assurance of uninterrupted production support in the advent of a catastrophic event. Since that time, it has grown to twenty-one companies and in scope to offer training and education programs as well being the largest and most well-known buying group in the industry.

“While the original reason for the group’s forming was for operational security, the board of directors is very proud of the leadership and operational training programs that have been developed. Our members are more productive and profitable due to the breadth of services they get from being members of the ICG. This meeting at Clearwater Paper and their involvement with the group is a classic example of that value,” says Willie.