In 2006-2007, we began to grow quite rapidly.  We purchased our first box post-printing machine, and ended up printing over 9 million boxes on two machines in four years.  With space at a premium as it is today, we built a mezzanine to better utilize our square footage.  Jon’s mom was in her eighties when she announced, “I’ve always wanted to drive a semi truck!”  So, with careful supervision from Sean, she took a few spins around our Ferry Street location.  During this time, we hired Justin who became our box ninja.  He quickly began to absorb corrugated box making like a sponge.  Other than a one year hiatus, Justin is still with us and integral to our continued growth and success.

Prior to the arrival of our new pallet racking at Ferry Street, we had to consolidate much of our inventory in one area, and machinery in another so we could lay out the warehouse properly.  Utter chaos and long days and nights!  We took time to have a bit of fun though.  We built a crate for the world’s largest rubber band ball that was shipping out of Eugene, OR to the Guinness World Records folks.  Our crate and pallet business started early on, and continues to grow.  A spouse of one of our friends asked us to “wrap” a package for her husband.  Never ones to shrink from a challenge, we made Christmas morning for him a bit difficult.

In late 2008, we made a decision that the 11,000 square feet that we had expanded to on Ferry Street could no longer offer any growth opportunities to the business.  We found a 20,000 square foot building on Industrial Way in Albany, and infrastructure improvements began as we started moving out of our Ferry Street locations.  Industrial Way needed a full office remodel, new lighting, electrical, sprinkler and compressed air infrastructure build-outs, etc.

Since 2001, we have built crates and pallets. Over the years, we have made significant investments in personnel, training, software and equipment to produce wood items from the basic to the very sophisticated. Many of our custom crates have foam inserts, finger boards or special hold-downs. We have protected the very small, the very large and the very unusual with our crates.

On Sunday, September 14, 2014, we got notified that the water main by our Industrial Way building had burst and “may” cause some flooding. The failed infrastructure dated back to the 1920’s, and this was the third breach of the water main over the years. This time however, it was a complete failure of the water main and took until almost noon on Monday the next day before it could be isolated and shut down. Fortunately, the truck loading docks at this building (originally built as an alcohol distribution facility) had fairly low, ground-level docks so that trucks could be parked fully inside at night and locked up. Although the drains were large, they could not keep up with the tremendous volume of water, and at one time we had almost four feet of flood water. The water started to recede, then stopped due to maximum City drain capacity being exceeded. You can see the line on some of our vehicles where the water stayed for more than a day. All in all, a massive and expensive experience. Never a dull moment at Albany Box Company!

In February, 2016, we began due diligence and negotiations with SpacePak, a Portland-based manufacturer of loose-fill (packing peanut) cushioning.  SpacePak was highly regarded in the marketplace form manufacturing both EPS (traditional “foam” loose fill) and starch-based biodegradable loose fill.  They had been our vendor for many years and we had a great relationship.  In July of 2016, we concluded business acquisition negotiations, and began dismantling the Milwaukee, Oregon SpacePak plant to move assets to Albany.  The challenge was that at our Industrial Way location, we were out of physical space, did not have adequate ceiling height for storage hoppers, did not have 480 volt 3 phase power available, did not have adequate personnel to operate equipment, and were not trained to manufacture loose fill products.  Other than that, we were ready, set, go!  Concurrent with the acquisition of SpacePak, we had made a decision to once again move the entire business to a larger location—Big Blue as the building was known.

 

Big Blue (now painted gray) is our current location on Pacific Blvd in Albany. The aerial photo from the 1960’s shows the “double-hump” construction of our building, and that it was part of a large plywood manufacturing complex. Built in the ‘60’s, the building was owned by different plywood and woods product companies (Vancouver Plywood, South West Forest Industries, & Stone Forest Products) over the years until 1994 when it was shut down and became vacant. Purchased by three local investors in 2002, it was used mostly for storage primarily by seed companies and others until we showed interest in mid-2016. There were no offices, loading docks, etc., just a big open shell warehouse with massive power but all infrastructure dating back to the 1960 era. Architects, engineers and contractors were hired, and worked commenced to transform the building into a manufacturing and distribution facility that it is today. The transformation to electrical, compressed air, water, sewer, natural gas, internet, phone service and office construction was extensive, but the end result a great place to work.

We officially moved in to Big Blue in the January-February, 2016 time frame. Today, we manufacture boxes, crates & pallets and loose fill packaging. New equipment for corrugated box production and printing is expected to be running by the end of March 2021 or shortly thereafter. The new machines will allow us to print up to two colors, and produce as many as 40,000 boxes in a production shift at peak demand. Our success has been largely due to our outstanding employees and customers. We are excited for today, and look eagerly towards the future as the journey continues.