admin, Author at Green Bay Innovation Group

Wynnchurch Invests in Decorative Films, Further Growing Appvion Platform

Posted on January 9, 2023May 28, 2025 by admin

Rosemont, IL – December 20, 2022 – Appvion, a Wynnchurch Capital, L.P. (“Wynnchurch”) portfolio company, announced the addition of Decorative Films, LLC (“Decorative Films” or the “Company”) to the platform. Decorative Films manufactures adhesive decorative, privacy, and functional window films in Frederick, Maryland for commercial and residential use that are sold through a global network of dealer partners. This follows Wynnchurch’s investment in Nekoosa Coated Products, LLC (“Nekoosa”) in November 2022.

“I am honored to partner with the entire Decorative Films team,” said Paul Charapata, Appvion CEO. “Decorative Films is a leader in the window films market due to the broad and innovative portfolio of products they have created and strong partnerships they have built. They are first class people running a best-in-class operation.”

Peter Huyser, founder of Decorative Films, said in a statement, “We believe that our new partnership will provide exceptional support and resources as well as expand Decorative Films product line with new and innovative films for all of our incredible customers worldwide.”

“We are excited to partner with the Decorative Films team as we continue building the Appvion platform and increase our value proposition to customers,” said Greg Gleason, Managing Partner at Wynnchurch.

This acquisition reflects the Company’s commitment to being a leader in the engineered media and solutions marketplace, and desire to grow through strategic acquisitions that bring value to all our stakeholders.

“With the incredible support of Wynnchurch, we have completed two significant acquisitions and invested nearly $20 million in growth focused capital projects over the last six months. We have a very strong business platform that is positioned for strong growth,” added Paul Charapata.

ABOUT DECORATIVE FILMS:

Founded in 1979 as a glass coating company, Decorative Films serviced the solar control window tinting industry. Today, Decorative Films manufactures decorative window films under registered trademarks, SOLYX®, SimGlass®, UltraCool®, UltraSafe®, UltraAuto® and UltraGlare®. For more information, please visit: www.decorativefilm.com.

ABOUT APPVION:

Appvion applies coating solutions to flexible substrates, including products from an FDA-compliant facility. Appvion’s primary product offering includes direct thermal labels and film solutions, and renewable, fiber-based consumer and industrial packaging solutions. For more information, please visit: www.appvion.com.

ABOUT NEKOOSA:

Nekoosa is a leading provider of engineered materials in application tapes, specialty synthetics, pressure sensitive films, and sheeted digital and offset grade carbonless paper. Nekoosa now represents the RTape, Catalina Graphic Films, Mojave Digital Media, SYNAPS, ClingZ®, MagneCote® and CET Films brands. For more information, please visit: www.nekoosa.com.

ABOUT WYNNCHURCH CAPITAL:

Wynnchurch Capital, L.P., headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, with an office in New York and an affiliate in Canada, was founded in 1999 and is a leading middle-market private equity investment firm. Wynnchurch’s strategy is to partner with middle market companies in the United States and Canada that possess the potential for substantial growth and profit improvement. Wynnchurch manages a number of private equity funds with $5.3 billion of regulatory assets under management and specializes in recapitalizations, growth capital, management buyouts, corporate carve-outs, and restructurings. For more information, please visit: www.wynnchurch.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT

Greg B. Gleason, Managing Partner | Wynnchurch Capital

ggleason@wynnchurch.com
847.604.6121

Michael A. Teplitsk, Partner | Wynnchurch Capital

mteplitsky@wynnchurch.com
847.604.6120

Brian R. Riordan, Principal | Wynnchurch Capital

briordan@wynnchurch.com
847.604.6135

GBIG News Billerud Wisconsin Rapids

Posted on January 9, 2023May 28, 2025 by admin

WE NEED BILLERUD TO OPEN UP THE WISCONSIN RAPIDS PAPER MILL OR SELL IT WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS ON THE PAPER PRODUCTS THE MILL IS DESIGNED TO PRODUCE! WISCONSIN NEEDS YOUR HELP TO REBUILD THE PAPER INDUSTRY!

I recently received a picture dated September 11, 1974 Consolidated Papers, Inc. Dedicates this converting complex to serve the future growth of the graphics arts industry. My brother was the lead Engineer setting up the facility and I was the Sales and Marketing Manager supporting the Paper Distributors and the Commercial Printing Markets in the Midwest. Consolidated Papers was the leader in the production of coated papers servicing commercial, publication, catalog and direct mail printing industries nationwide. Simply, Consolidated Papers, Inc. made Wisconsin the Printing Capital of the USA. Today, the mill sits idle having a major impact on the State of Wisconsin and our communities! Our 5P industries are in serious trouble finding paper to support their businesses. We need to come up with a solution or become more dependent on Paper from Asia or Europe! The Wisconsin Paper Mill could provide enough paper to supply ALL of American’s needs with capacity to export paper worldwide!

I have had discussions with Billerud and I value the genuine relationship we have built! Billerud is very much like George Mead, the past President of Consolidated Papers, Inc. They are committed to paper production, their communities, sustainability, employees and growth in North America. Like Consolidated Papers, Inc. Billerud goes back 150 years in the Paper Industry!

We have seen St. Paper, LLC. Duluth: A $42.1 million project to reopen a paper mill in Duluth is among the big winners in the latest round of job creation grants from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
The Michigan Strategic Fund approved a 15 year Forest Products Processing Renaissance Zone estimated to be worth $29.4 million in support of the project for Billerud’s Escanaba Mill Transformation Project.

The Green Bay Innovation Group is putting together a panel of industry experts to discuss the issues to rebuild the paper industry in Wisconsin which will include WEDC, the Wisconsin Paper Council and ALL interested in BUILDING BACK the Wisconsin Paper Industry. If you are interested, please contact me at:
608-698-3333 cell and text or martinpochs@gmail.com

Holly Jolly Year for Packerland Websites, Thanks to You

Posted on January 9, 2023May 28, 2025 by admin

As we reflect on 2022, the staff of Packerland Websites would like to call attention to what gives us the most satisfaction – giving organizations the strategies and tools they need to reach their goals. We love helping businesses and nonprofits move to the next level by providing exceptional writing, design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and ingenuity. Please allow us to do a little bragging.

The Packerland Websites’ team manages over 550 websites, offering the latest in cybersecurity and web design. We support the business community with memberships in five Chambers of Commerce: Pulaski, Green Bay, Oconto, Oconto Falls, and Peshtigo and the Howard Suamico Business Association. Owner Bill Koehne serves on the Oconto Falls Chamber Board of Directors. He understands the challenges of operating a business because he co-founded and co-owned a multi-million-dollar home construction company before opening Packerland Websites.

Packerland Websites’ prices are fair and competitive. Plus, nonprofit organizations get the VIP treatment, with up to half-price discounts. Additionally, Packerland Websites greatly reduces hosting fees for nonprofits, and on occasion, waives hosting fees altogether. It’s just another way to give back to the community. Packerland Websites is a proud supporter of Artists for the Humanities, Society for Faith and Children’s Education, Abrams Spotlight Productions Inc., the Volunteer Center of Brown County, and other nonprofits.

Bill is a 30-year member of the Brown County Home Builders Association, having served on the Showcase of Homes committee and other BCHBA committees. He also serves on the board of Green Bay Innovation Group, a Northeast Wisconsin business-to-business consortium of manufacturing and converting companies and supporting industries.

In addition to his professional affiliations, Bill is president of Abrams Spotlight Productions Inc., a local community theater organization. Most recently, Bill was assistant director for “White Christmas” and performed as Harry the Horse in “Guys and Dolls.” He helped organize the Green Bay Walleyes for Tomorrow fundraiser for many years and serves as committee chairman for Windjammers Sailing Club. At St. Pius Catholic Church, Bill is a music minister, Eucharistic minister, and lector who volunteers at Anchor of Hope TEC youth retreats. He’s a busy guy who’s committed to his faith, family, and community.

As Packerland Websites concludes its 11th year in business, we’re thankful for all of the businesses and nonprofits that helped make us who we are today. We appreciate your loyalty and trust in 2022 and look forward to serving you all in 2023. Happy New Year!

GBIG NEWS | 84 Stories and Links on the Internet 12/21/2022

Posted on December 19, 2022July 21, 2025 by admin

GBIG News

Get links to the latest news, events, stories, and interviews from our 5P news members. Our goal is to remind the decision-makers in Wisconsin of the importance of our industry both historically, and more importantly, into the future.

Read the latest 84 Stories and Links on the Internet below.

Wisconsin

Events

Forests

Plastic

Converting Mixed Plastics into a single product with research supplied from UW Madison.

Industry

Printing

Miracon continues global Flexo HUB Investment with new facility in Minnesota, USA

Corrugated

Member

GBIG NEWS CORRUGATED DECEMBER 21, 2022

Posted on December 19, 2022May 28, 2025 by admin

Over a number of years, successful business executive and owner Marty Ochs recognized the impressive magnitude of the paper and paper-related industries in Green Bay. Even more than that, Ochs noted, Green Bay’s paper, packaging, printing, converting and support industries are advanced and thriving. On the local, state and national level, the impact and innovation of Green Bay’s paper and related industries often seems to go unrecognized. Ochs grew up in Northeastern Wisconsin and began his career in the paper industry, so he felt determined to bring more recognition to the thriving paper field in Green Bay.

TRENDS AND UPDATES

We are seeing E-commerce sales continue to grow and the consumer spending remaining strong supported by Christmas shopping. We anticipate after Christmas sales to continue through January and early February 2023.
We are witnessing that box consumers are making progress working through elevated inventories.
Amazon has received record-breaking sales over 5 days between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday.
We are seeing more Board Paper Products imported from Europe and China. We welcome Billerud with their plants in Michigan moving forward converting two paper machines and supported with a kraft pulp mill to produce high end board grades in 2025. Due to the current high demand for printing papers along with other paper mills shutting down graphic papers, it could slow down their conversation plans to meet demand of their current graphic paper customers.
SAPPI will convert their coated free sheet paper to solid bleached sulfate with the project date in early 2025. The company plans to convert its Cloquet, MN mill to packaging and specialty grades.
Packaging Corporation of America older plant is laying off a majority of its 400+ employees citing weaker demand for its products.

Quad Plus: New Line Cannot Run at Capacity.

Posted on December 19, 2022July 22, 2025 by admin

The purpose of acceptance testing is to evaluate new equipment following installation to ensure
it was built correctly and is operating according to specifications. When something goes wrong,
this process allows the new equipment owner to ensure that all problems are corrected before
the project is considered complete.

In many cases, a third party can help locate problems during acceptance testing, diagnosing
issues, and proposing or executing solutions.

Brand New Line Underperforming

A non-woven manufacturing facility recently upgraded its system to include new equipment for the entire line. The machines were still in the acceptance testing phase, and the facility was experiencing problems, primarily with system faults when attempting to operate the line at full capacity.

The facility utilized VFDs (variable frequency drives) in a three-roll calendar system configured to run in a speed-matching operation up to a thousand feet per minute. System faults presented consistently whenever the system reached about eight hundred feet per minute or faster. At lower operating speeds, intermittent faults were present on the calendar.

Troubleshooting the Problem

A third-party troubleshooting team was called out to the facility to diagnose the problem. They began with a systematic evaluation of the entire system, including the installation and the programming. Because the system was new, the team needed to verify that the equipment was installed correctly.

The team also ensured that the cabinet was designed well, that the Fieldbus was operating correctly, and that the motor leads were terminated properly using the correct motor cables. Next was evaluating the encoder feedback with instrumentation where switching noise in the encoder signal was detected.

Another issue discovered by the troubleshooting team was that the encoder was configured for unipolar operation. This wiring configuration is not the best method for heavy industrial applications. The team rewired the encoders to the optimal configuration, along with the rest of the system.

Once these problems were corrected, the non-woven manufacturing facility could operate its new line at a thousand feet per minute without additional complications.

Acceptance Testing & Troubleshooting

Brand-new equipment should deliver better, smoother operations. However, this is only possible when they’re working correctly. Acceptance testing is designed to reveal any problems with your new assemblies so they can be corrected immediately.

Should any issues be detected, it pays to enlist the help of qualified experts who can provide a systematic evaluation of your system to verify the installation and programming and correct any issues so you can enjoy the full benefits of your investment.

If you’d like additional information on how Quad Plus can help you with expert diagnoses and corrections, please reach out to Jim Woulf at (920) 515-4155 or via email at jwoulf@quadplus.com.

Box Latch Products shopping cart more than doubled over 25 days utilizing TikTok…a Wisconsin Success Story!

Posted on December 19, 2022July 22, 2025 by admin

Like us, you may never have considered TikTok as a marketing option. Our introduction to this platform occurred as a result of one person stopping at our table at the PackExpo Emerging Brands Summit on October 23, 2022 in Chicago’s McCormick Place.

A picture containing text, indoor, wall, office

A guy named Corry Connors asked to shoot a short video and post it to his 80,000 TikTok followers. We said, “Sure, why not?” Within days of its November 3 posting it went viral. It has now been seen by nearly 2 million viewers with 39.4k likes, 1,773 comments and 574 shares. Though not all sales could be linked to the TikTok video, purchases on our BoxLatch™ Products shopping cart more than doubled over the next 25 days.

As it turned out Cory also hosts a sustainable packaging website and does podcasts. The amazing success of the TikTok video prompted Cory to invite BoxLatch™ CEO, Jim Wilson, to do a podcast. It was posted on December 7. Wouldn’t you know it, the success of that has led to an invitation for Jim to apply for a position as a speaker at the AICC (Independent Packaging Association) Xperience Conference in 2023.

Everyone knows that marketing is kind of like fishing; you never know what the next super lure will be or where the big lunker is lurking. As a company who knew nothing about the effectiveness of TikTok as a B2C and B2B marketing platform, is it time companies like yours and ours learned more about it?

If you have had success, please let us know.

Jack & Jim Wilson and the BoxLatch™ Team

Pewaukee, WI jack@boxlatch.com, james@boxlatch.com

Stop Outsourcing! Own Your Hiring Process for Great HR Results

Posted on December 19, 2022May 28, 2025 by admin

When outsiders started commenting on a dramatic uptick in the organization’s talent, management took notice. That’s what happened for Bill MacPherson, of the Mercer Celgar pulp mill and 30-year veteran of the pulp and paper industry. While working for a previous employer, Bill received positive feedback from customers, vendors, and suppliers who noticed a remarkable shift in talent at the organization. What brought about the transformation? Game-changing employee selection. Instead of outsourcing the recruitment and hiring process to a consultant, the organization took ownership of the process.

‘You Can’t Outsource Thinking’

“You can’t outsource thinking,” is one of Bill’s principles. Consultants play a role in certain scenarios, but not in every circumstance. Definitely not in hiring. Instead, organizations gain the most by using the talent, leadership, and teams inside their walls to own their problems and solve them together. Organizations should be as engaged as possible in attracting and hiring talent. In Bill’s experience, employee performance was noticeably better a couple years after implementing the 15dots® hiring techniques. New hires were naturally acclimated to work in an environment that was collaborative, team-based, and problem solving. Very quickly, people inside and outside the organization began to see a shift.

Employees as Interviewing Experts

The 15dots® Selection Process trains employees to be interview experts. Employees gain the knowledge and tools to repeatedly and reliably choose the right match(s). There’s nothing more important than selecting the people who are going to be your teammates and colleagues. 15dots® helps organizations eliminate bad hires and performance nightmares.

Developing Leaders Ready for Promotions

By engaging in the hiring process, organizations create a development opportunity for their people. Interviewers learn the skills necessary to become future leaders and managers. Learning how to hire in a complex 21st Century manufacturing environment is an important skill to acquire. Leadership skills are even more critical due to the massive retirements occurring in the pulp and paper industry. Whereas it previously took 20-25 years to go from entry-level to top-level position, now it happens in 4-5 years. Employees’ rapid rise requires an enormous amount of learning. To advance in the organization, employees must be active learners and problem solvers. The previous generations didn’t have the pressure to advance as quickly. So, that’s another huge reason to use an effective and reliable selection process. Organizations don’t want to mismatch people and set them up for failure in the workplace.

Cost-Effective Alternative to Recruiters

In addition to maximizing human potential, the 15dots® Selection Process is cost effective. Bill estimated that hiring cost about one-quarter of the expense of outsourcing. Recruiters and consulting agencies typically charge high-priced retainers. Plus, by outsourcing the hiring process, organizations let somebody else do all their thinking. Finding the right talent lays the foundation for an organization’s long-term success.

2023 Business Trends: Inflation & The
Economy Ahead – Northeast Wisconsin

Posted on December 19, 2022July 21, 2025 by admin

You’re invited to an interactive, engaging presentation revealing economic trends nationally and in Northeast Wisconsin from First Business Bank experts.

How will national and international economic trends affect Northeast Wisconsin’s economy in the coming quarters? Join us at Butte des Morts Country Club where Nancy Johnshoy, CFA, Senior Vice President – Portfolio Manager & Market Strategist, will present national and regional economic data. A panel of local business leaders will discuss inflation, interest rates, employment, and more.

This event is designed for local business and organization leaders who rely on proven, timely data to make critical budgeting and operations decisions. Seating is limited, so please register now to reserve your spot. We look forward to seeing you there.

Susan Finco (Moderator)

Owner & President –
Leonard & Finco Public Relations