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GB Chamber Recognizes Businesses & Individuals

Posted on June 19, 2023July 21, 2025 by admin

Three GBIG members were honored at the Greater Green Bay Chamber Business Recognition Luncheon Awards & Showcase. Fiberglass Solutions LLC received the Growth Award; Green Bay Packaging received the Special Accomplishment Award for its Mill Reclaimed Water Project, and Bill Koehne, owner of Packerland Websites, was a Top 3 finalist in the Business Person of the Year Contest.

Table with Business Recognition Luncheon card — Photos by Shayna Marie Wild & Free

Fiberglass Solutions LLC: Ben and Amy Bertram purchased Fiberglass Solutions LLC in 2018, with a vision of growth and expansion. From 2018 to 2021, the company experienced year-over-year, double- digit sales growth before stabilizing in 2022 at $3.24M. Fiberglass Solutions LLC is on pace for almost $4M in 2023.

Green Bay Packaging: When GBP built its new mill, the first in Wisconsin in over 35 years, the company chose to be more water-resilient with reclaimed water use. This avoided the need to direct intake or discharge to the Fox River and reduced water withdrawal from the Great Lakes waterbody. GBP partnered with NEW Water to reclaim municipal wastewater for reuse in papermaking.

Bill Koehne, owner of Packerland Websites, started building websites on a whim and now the company has over 500 website clients. Bill, who serves as a GBIG director, donated over $60,000 in website services to nonprofits in 2022 alone and over a quarter of a million dollars over the past five years. Bill excels as a marketing mentor to businesses and nonprofits.

Nearly 500 attendees honored area businesses and individuals at the annual Business Recognition Luncheon Awards & Showcase held at the KI Convention Center in downtown Green Bay.

The event serves to honor individuals’ and companies’ achievements, growth, innovation, and exceptional business practices in Greater Green Bay. Finalists were recognized and recipients announced in five award categories.

The 2023 award recipients are:

Cornerstone Award: Georgia-Pacific
Entrepreneurial Award: FAVORYT Brand
Growth Award: Fiberglass Solutions LLC
Special Accomplishment Award: Green Bay Packaging
Business Person of the Year: Ben Schill, CEO, Paper Transport

“Today’s gathering was truly enjoyable as we celebrated the remarkable achievements of our thriving business community.” said Eric DeKorne, Chamber Vice President of Development. “The companies and individuals present here have made a significant impact on the community, and their unwavering dedication to success and progress plays a pivotal role in fostering the community’s growth and vitality.”

Swing Big with GBIG with over 150 registered golfers and 25 exhibitors and guests.

Posted on June 19, 2023July 24, 2025 by admin

Swing Big with GBIG was an outstanding event with over 150 registered golfers, 25 exhibitors and guests. We want to thank Steve Van Dyke President of the Green Bay Innovation Group for putting the golf outing together plus all the golfers! We want to thank Packerland Websites for sponsoring a hole to win $10,000 and the other twenty-five-hole sponsors!

The foursome representing CG Bretting Manufacturing Company of Ashland won the golf outing, shooting a 54. Adam Kohlbeck of Basic Metals, Germantown, won $475 in the 50/50 raffle. He participated in Swing Big with GBIG as a guest of McClone Insurance, Menasha.

Thank You,
Green Bay Innovation Group Board of Directors

Quad Plus: Are you familiar with power factor correction and its purpose for avoiding costly penalties?

Posted on June 19, 2023June 19, 2023 by admin

Are you having problems with your power distribution at your plant or factory? It is crucial to get up to speed with power factor correction to avoid costly penalty fees and other inefficiencies for your equipment operation.

It is common for plant maintenance engineers and factory managers to be stumped by penalty fees and how to eliminate them.

Quad Plus’s recent power factor correction study highlighted the importance of understanding and prioritizing power correction.

Read on for everything you need to know about power factor correction, the study, and how to contact a power services expert.

What Is Power Factor?

Power factor is a measure that indicates the ratio of real power (the power equipment needs to operate) to apparent power (also known as reactive power). However, when your power factor is too high or low, it can lead to penalty fees.

For example, if you have a low power factor, you cause strain on the grid. Your utility company instates penalty fees to help you pay attention to your power distribution and consider power factor correction.

Power Factor Correction

Power factor correction capacitors help you avoid paying costly penalty fees and improve the efficiency of your power use. There are a variety of reasons to use power factor correction, including:

Reducing carbon footprint
Avoiding penalty fees
Stabilizing voltage
Reducing maximum power
Increasing useful kW load without risk

There are many benefits of power factor correction. Sometimes it can be tricky to determine the cause of the high penalty and how to eliminate it. This is why it is important to contact a plant engineer to ensure power factor correction is correctly installed.

Power Factor Correction Study

Quad Plus carried out a power factor correction study to help identify the cause of penalty fees and eliminate them for one of our customers. We used data from their recent power bills to understand the charges and rates. We then identified the best solution with power factor correction.

We found that penalty fees were eliminated as soon as the equipment was installed, and the amount of reactive power flow was reduced. The power factor correction equipment also paid for itself within the year due to the reduced cost of power bills from the utility company.

The results also highlighted the need for power education from a power services expert, so companies can begin to take charge of the costs for their plant or factory.

Identify and Eliminate Costly Penalty Fees

Our recent power factor correction study highlighted how quickly penalty fees can be eliminated. However, plants and factories need support from power experts to find solutions.

The best power factor correction depends on the individual case. A power factor correction study needs to be done to find the best solution for your plant or factory.

Are you looking to identify and eliminate penalty fees fast? Contact Jim Woulf from Quad Plus at (920) 515-4155 or via email at jwoulf@quadplus.com to get the assistance you need.

How the State of Wisconsin Can Prosper, Share and Lead the way Supporting the Approval of Building a New Engineering Building at UW Madison

Posted on June 19, 2023June 19, 2023 by admin

The Packaging, Paper, Plastics, Printing, Pulp, Converting, Forestry and Supporting Industries are the backbone of the Wisconsin Manufacturing economy with plants located across the State of Wisconsin in BIG Cities and Small Cities! The combined employment exceeds over 150,000 employees!

The approval of the NEW Engineering Building at UW Madison is critical to support and grow our manufacturing base. We have seen 100% support from the Manufacturing Organizations and other supporting organizations. We are asking the Joint Finance and the State to reconsider the inclusion of this critical project in the 2023-2025 capital budget. We congratulate UW Madison for committing to raising $150 million from Private Gifts and Donations, contingent on state support of the project. Delaying this project would mean additional costs upward of $28 million.

GBIG News: Ashwaubenon Glory Road

Posted on June 19, 2023July 21, 2025 by admin

As we continue taking our tour of the Ashwaubenon industrial areas, we are focusing on companies near or on Glory Road and the concentration of companies that were created from the Paper Industry and very dependent on it.

NPS Holding LLC is focused on sustainable packaging, dispensers, towels, napkins, wipes, tissue, and specialty products selling worldwide.
Green Bay Packaging Coated Products Division offers paper and film pressure-sensitive label stock for a wide variety of labeling applications, including primary package decoration, thermal transfer, and direct thermal printing.
Paper Converting Machine Corporation and BW Converting are in Bag Converting, Tissue Converting, Tissue Packaging, Nonwovens Converting, Flexographic Printing, Digital Printing servicing world base of customers.
Green Bay Nonwovens/Suominen creates innovative and sustainable nonwovens for customers worldwide producing roll goods for wipes and other applications.
Legacy Flexo is a premier printing company with eleven flexographic presses servicing a wide range of capabilities with 10 color printing presses. Legacy prints on film, paper and nonwovens servicing a nationwide base of customers.

Supporting the New Engineering Building

Posted on June 12, 2023July 21, 2025 by admin

How can two outstanding communities prosper, share success, and lead the way in the 5P Industries? By supporting a new engineering building at UW-Madison. Unfortunately, the Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee withheld approval for a new College of Engineering building, despite $150M of the project’s $347M budget coming from private donations. The current College of Engineering building was constructed in 1907.

Ian Robertson, Grainger Dean of the UW-Madison College of Engineering, has an urgent request for CEOs in the 5P Industries. He’s asking you to consider signing a letter to present to state legislators, expressing support for a new building for the College of Engineering. If you are willing to add your name and company to this letter, please email russ.johnson@wisc.edu by Thursday, June 15.

Currently, the Green Bay Innovation Group is involved in two high-impact UW-Madison initiatives. GBIG is collaborating with George Huber, Professor of Chemical Engineering at UW-Madison and director of the $12.5 million Center for Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP). CUWP is working with plastic converters to convert hard-to-recycle plastic into high quality resins. After CUWP successfully completes this pilot project, CUWP plans to design the first commercial converting facility in Green Bay. Green Bay has an opportunity to gain national recognition for plastic recycling. Currently, over 45,000 Wisconsin residents are employed in the Plastics Industry, plus 25,000 in Flexible Packaging, Nonwoven, supporting Manufacturing, and Construction! A new commercial plastic recycling center would be a great financial benefit to Green Bay and the State of Wisconsin.

Another remarkable innovation stemming from UW-Madison is an experimental fusion machine which produces sustainable, locally generated process heat. Recently, Dr. Ben Lindley, Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics at UW-Wisconsin, sent an update regarding this research project. Read Dr. Lindley’s letter. Dr. Lindley is working with a local startup company to develop a lower cost and less complex modular fusion reactor utilizing abundant fuel sources to provide a new, zero-carbon source of heat and power. The financial and environmental impact would be huge for Wisconsin industries! Dr. Lindley sent me a request for introductions to the paper and pulp companies in Northeast Wisconsin, and we are moving forward on it.

These are just two examples of the exceptional research underway at UW-Madison. What other breakthroughs are possible? Wisconsin needs to come together in a non-bipartisan manner to vote YES to approve a new Engineering Building. Without it, UW-Madison will lose professors, students, and major engineering innovations to other universities.

I lived in the Green Bay area for 27 years, and I lived in the Madison area for 27 years. In both communities, I have been involved in the business community. I am extremely comfortable and well-connected in both communities by building strong, trusting relationships.

Northeastern Wisconsin is a world class innovative manufacturing center with a big emphasis on the 5P (Paper, Pulp, Plastic, Print and Packaging) and Converting industries. Green Bay has earned the title of the “Toilet Paper Capital of the World” and the “Converting Corridor of the United States.” U.S. News & World Report recently ranked Green Bay as the No. 1 metro area in the nation to live.

Madison ranked as one of the best places in the United States to live, against the backdrop of the acclaimed institution, UW-Wisconsin. The college is ranked as one of the best educational institutions in the world! The Madison area has an abundance of Advanced Manufacturing, Agriculture, Food, Healthcare, Information Technology and Bioscience.

The State of Wisconsin is in dire need of engineers in all fields, to continue to build on our manufacturing success across Wisconsin. Contact your State Representatives, and ask them to VOTE YES to building the new state-of-the-art College of Engineering facility.

June 13th, 2023 Newsletter

Posted on June 12, 2023May 27, 2025 by admin

Read the June 13th, 2023 Green Bay Innovation Group Newsletter here.

Read newsletter

June 7th, 2023 Newsletter

Posted on June 5, 2023May 27, 2025 by admin

Read the June 7th, 2023 Green Bay Innovation Group Newsletter here.

Read newsletter

Exhibitor Tables Available at Sold-out Golf Outing

Posted on June 5, 2023July 24, 2025 by admin

GBIG is happy to announce that we are sold out of foursomes with 144 golfers registered for the Swing Big with GBIG. We still have 6 hole sponsors available plus exhibitor tables for the non-golfers to be part of our event!

The Green Bay Innovation Group will be providing a 6-foot table plus one FREE Lunch and two FREE drink tickets at the Swing Big with GBIG event for $50. We will set up a separate room for you at the golf outing! We ask that you set up before 11 a.m. and bring a tabletop display and any handouts that you want to distribute. We Have a limited number of available tables.

We ask that you provide the name or names of the individuals that will participate. Go to: www.greenbayinnovationgroup.com Events – Golf Outing and Register for the table. Finally, after 3 p.m. we are offering a FREE opportunity to join us for networking and socializing. We are expecting 175 total people to join us for this fundraising event!

Thank You,
Steve Van Dyke
President
Green Bay Innovation Group
608-451-2554 – cell
binvandyke@gmail.com

Customization is all in the cards at Allegheny Printed Plastics

Posted on June 5, 2023June 5, 2023 by admin

“With PressTune, our pressmen have all the tools they need on screen. It does the math for them, and they can see the real time data while printing.”

Les Gamble, Plant Manager & Chrissy Summers, Prepress Manager

When Alegheny Printed Plastics tested ECO3’s PressTune software technology, they streamlined the printing process and increased efficiency. Combined with PressTune, and Spir@l screening helps reduce image slur. Read about it in this customer testimonial.

Allegheny has invested years in developing a customer-focused culture and agile responsiveness. Leadership is dedicated to manufacturing excellence and promotes a passion for process improvement and acquiring innovative technologies.

Streamlining the printing process

When Allegheny tested ECO3’s PressTune print standardization tool, they experienced how applying mathematics and objective measurement to printing can streamline the process and increase efficiency.

“PressTune has all the information easily accessible,” states Allegheny’s prepress manager, Chrissy Summers. “We follow G7, and the calibration is very meticulous. Pressmen must look in different places like overprints, densities, and dot gains. With PressTune, our pressmen have all the tools they need on screen. The passing score is there. PressTune does the math for them, and they can see the real time data while printing.”

PressTune allows printing professionals to measure color reproduction against any identified standard, including ISO 12647, G7, and specific buyer requirements. The pass-fail reporting process and scorecard system certify that jobs are printed precisely to specification, improving quality and consistency. By monitoring up to 12 spot colors, along with process colors, PressTune guides operators to adjust the press to remain within tolerances when chemistry, paper, ink, and other variables change.

“When printing on plastic, there is ink dot gain,” explains Summers. “Our curves are set to factor dot gain in lamination. PressTune is a locked-down system that considers variance in the behavior of our printing process. We need to run slightly off of G7 because lamination shifts the color to another color space, and we are much more stable and consistent because we are printing to the numbers.”

PressTune contains powerful analytic capabilities based on lab values obtained through spectrophotometer measurement tools. This vital print and color data is collected straight from the printing press, enabling the objective evaluation of printing jobs related to specific standards. By doing away with subjective evaluations, print manufacturers can operate in a standardized way and get more jobs done in less time.

Dropping two color pulls in proofing

PressTune helped Allegheny eliminate a step in the proofing process. According to Plant Manager Les Gamble, “The color is more crisp, and the pressmen can get up to color faster. We dropped at least two color pulls from the process and decreased our make-ready time.”

Allegheny continually invests in making its systems more efficient. In combination with PressTune, SPIR@L screening is helping to reduce image slur by holding a 1-99% dot by replacing the traditional ink dot with more efficient spiral shapes.

“Our highlights are sharper with SPIR@L,” says Summers. “We can grab a little bit lower on the curve. If you have a heavy overprint in your three-quarter tones, sometimes it gets a little brown, muddy, and sludgy. We do not have that anymore. Our mid tones are cleaner, and it is a smoother overall print.”

SPIR@L screening delivers crystal clear image rendering in the finest detail and brightest colors. Using less ink produces tighter colors, details, and consistency, all while having greater control of the press. The SPIR@L technology places a modified minimum ink dot created in a spiral shape. The solution’s smooth transition from positive to negative spirals and minimum white gap results in a high- quality image in vibrant colors. SPIR@L can be set up according to the manufacturer’s preferences: different curves and groove area thicknesses can be selected depending on the press and paper used to achieve high-quality print at the lowest possible cost.

Improvements in quality and consistency

Allegheny’s mantra is: If you can measure it, you can control it. If you can control it, you can reproduce it consistently. The combination of PressTune and SPIR@L has improved quality and consistency while reducing Allegheny’s manufacturing costs.

What is more, Gamble sees a culture shift positively impacting business. “Our pressmen are more confident in their work. They have all the tools they need with PressTune and SPIR@L. The data is very easily accessible on screen. They do not have to use a densitometer or a spectrophotometer to hit little patches on

their sheet to read dot gain. PressTune does the math. The score is there; they can see their dot gain while printing. Before, they had to stop the press. We are saving in make-ready and downtime between jobs.”

Allegheny Printed Plastics is dedicated to manufacturing excellence and passionate about delivering high quality and value to its customers. ECO3’s PressTune and SPIR@L are the latest technologies that are helping to keep this leading card personalization solutions manufacturer at the top of the charts.

“The combination of PressTune and SPIR@L has improved quality and consistency while reducing Allegheny’s manufacturing costs.”

Green Bay Innovation Group

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