Award-winning Warren company marks 120 years of packaging perfection
The basic materials are the same as Clarence Taylor’s workers used when they began making jewelry cards and boxes in Providence in 1885: paper, cardboard and fabric, artfully cut and folded to enhance the appeal of the products they’d hold.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
But a lot has changed in 120 years: It’s the Shedds, not the Taylors, who own it now – Daniel S. Shedd in particular, grandson of Howard Scholes, who bought the company in the 1920s. Since 1952, they’ve been in Warren, in a converted former brewery.
And the old manufacturing world that fueled Taylor’s business has been transformed by globalization, leaving few survivors who could compete with the Far East. Yet in that new economy, this small plant in a sleepy town is, implausibly, thriving.
The Italian-made assembly machines run constantly. The 45 workers, mostly women who’ve been there, on average, 15 years, are putting in overtime. New orders keep coming in – so many that Shedd has to prioritize, and he declines some clients.
The jobs Taylor Box Company does take often involve major brands: Eddie Bauer, Bosch, American Express, W.B. Norton books, Titleist golf balls (one of the few generations-old customers).
Many of the boxes are simple: cardboard covered with a pretty paper or fabric, maybe with a little gold embossing. But the company does particularly well with specialty boxes, with padded or velvet-covered inserts, even multiple layers. It’s carved out a niche in display boxes, commemorative packages, promotional kits – even for Daimler-Benz and Porsche.
Taylor Box has so distinguished itself in this market that in the last nine years, it’s won six “Best of Show” prizes at the National Paperbox Association annual conventions, plus two “International Best of Show” and multiple other awards.
“My competitors say, ‘How the hell do you win all these awards?’” said Shedd. “The answer is we have great customers with wonderful imaginations and the budgets to support those ambitions. And the reason we have those customers is because we’re great collaborators.”
Here’s the deal: Taylor Box isn’t necessarily cheap, and it doesn’t seek to compete on price. Instead, it competes on speed – an order on Tuesday can be out by Friday – and, most important, on quality and versatility. If a customer wants a box that will fold like a clam shell, Taylor Box will find a way to make it. If someone has just a concept, or no idea at all, Taylor Box staff will go back and forth with them until they have the perfect package.
“We try to distinguish ourselves with service, expertise,” said Shedd. “We do a lot of projects that the other guys turn tail and run from. Without a doubt in my mind, we have the best staff, top to bottom, of any box company in the country. It’s all about people, and we’re not afraid to spend money on training and equipment.”
Vision and ingenuity have also played a big part. In the early 1980s, as Taylor Box was declining with the jewelry industry, a Digital Software executive came in one day and asked if they could make a slip-cover box, similar to the ones they made for fancy books, but fabric-lined and with the trademark red lines perfectly aligned between the two parts.
The plant didn’t have the capability to do that, but Shedd’s artist brother, David, went in the back and hand-made a prototype. It looked so good that Digital Software signed on, and by figuring out a way to mass-produce the boxes, the company got millions of dollars’ worth of software business: from Multimate, Lotus 1-2-3, Cullinet Software, Wang Office Assistant.
Shedd reinvested the capital to upgrade the equipment, so even after those markets dried up a decade later, Taylor Box was positioned to pursue new markets nationwide. It’s taken steady effort, but in the last six or eight years, Shedd said, sales have doubled, and by expanding the building and continuing to invest in technology, he’s secured a future for his business.
To keep building brand awareness, Sales and Marketing Manager Julie Passey puts the company in about five major trade shows per year, and Shedd is on the road every week, promoting Taylor Box’s image as a true marketing partner, not just a box-maker.
“We ask, ‘What are your goals? How can we help you be a bigger success than you are?’” Shedd said. “Because that’s the only way we’re going to be relevant. Then we don’t become just some joint with box machines.”
To learn more about Taylor Box, go to www.taylorbox.com.
