Executives at Admiral Packaging Inc. know all about the national recession, but only because they watch the news.
Truckloads of shiny, colorful bags – the company’s chief product – are regularly leaving the Admiral Street plant, headed for warehouses where they will be stuffed with Necco candies, New York Style bagel chips, Tootsie Rolls, Calise & Sons bakery goods, Maine potatoes and other food stuffs.
While the rest of the state struggles through the economic slump, the 112-year-old Providence company is experiencing record sales, which management attributes to a production philosophy borrowed from Japanese industry and a $10 million investment in state-of-the-art equipment.
“We’ve been able to lower our prices, but still maintain the same margin,” said company President Harley Frank. “That’s made us more competitive, which has brought in more business.”
Several years ago the company adopted “Lean Principles,” an approach to manufacturing that originated at Toyota, the Japanese automotive giant. Earlier this year the company received a state grant that was used to train its team to be more efficient. Now Admiral is sharing best practices with some other Rhode Island companies, inviting them to send workers to their Admiral Street plant to observe operations.
“This isn’t about reducing head count,” said Vice President John Wilbur. “It’s about reducing costs. “We ask employees how we can make improvements. We put it in their hands. … This isn’t something pushed down from the top. That’s why we’ve been successful getting the buy-in from our employees.”
The boost in sales has prompted the company to shop for new equipment.
Admiral recently received shipment of its newest printing press, an eight-color, flexograhic MIRAFLEX machine from Germany-based Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp. Their U.S. headquarters is in Lincoln, just a few minutes drive from the Admiral plant.
The latest investment caps a $10 million technology initiative that began three years ago with the purchase of a new laminator that seals plastic to paper bags. The company has also acquired an Esko laser engraver that allows digital plate production.
During a tour of the plant, Frank said that, “A lot of the Lean philosophy has to do with having the place very clean and neat, so that tools are very accessible.”
One list includes everything that’s done before a job and after a job. A second list includes all those things that can be done while the press is running. The goal is to reduce set-up time, a major concern at every printing operation, and it’s working.
“In the past, set-up time could take seven hours,” Wilbur said. “Now it takes maybe an hour and a half.”
The efficiency effort and the new equipment are also making Admiral greener.
“With the new press, there’s no longer a need for employees to don rubber gloves to scrub the decks,” Wilbur said. “And we used to pull a million gallons of water from our well every year to cool equipment. The new system uses a noncontact cooler, so the water is recycled and used again and again.”
Five years ago Admiral also renovated the building, removing the old boiler and replacing it with a gas-powered system. “The first year our energy costs went down 70 percent,” Frank said. “And we [previously] were putting sulfur into the air. That’s no longer the case.”
Making production more efficient has had other payoffs as well. The plant now takes up less space, so Frank turned empty rooms into offices, and rents them to other businesses. Another area of the plant has become a gym for employees.
The company is also proud of its Rhode Island roots.
Frank’s great grandfather, Moses Frank, started the company – then known as Union Paper — in 1898. In 1960 the Frank family launched Admiral Packaging, which started as the company’s printing division.
The company headquarters is an Ocean State landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1850, the sprawling, red-brick structure originally served as a silk-spinning mill.
“Rhode Island can be a tough place to do business,” Harley Frank said. “Health care is more expensive, energy is more expensive, taxes are more expensive, and regulations are tough. But we’ve always been here,” he said proudly. “Rhode Island is a great place to live, and we’ve got a great work force.” •
COMPANY PROFILE
Admiral Packaging Inc.
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Flexographic printing of packaging for food products, medical products, industrial products, and product samples
FOUNDER: Moses Frank
LOCATION: 10 Admiral St., Providence
EMPLOYEES: 70
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1898
ANNUAL SALES: WND
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