In 2015, private investment firm Lindsay Goldberg LLC announced it created Crown Paper Group as a holding company for investments in the paper and packaging industries, and installed leaders team who had worked together for three-plus decades building high-performing businesses.
Today, Crown Paper Group is an integrated West Coast containerboard and packaging system that includes Port Townsend Paper (Port Townsend, WA), Boxmaster (Vancouver BC), Crown Packaging (Vancouver BC), and Montebello Container (La Mirada CA, Pico Rivera CA, and Santa Fe CA).
Steve Klinger, Executive Chairman of Crown Paper Group, said, “We created Crown Paper Group to build a high-performance business, and three years of consistent leadership, strategy, investments, and execution, have Crown that position now.”
Colin Fernie, President of Crown Paper Group, added, “Crown’s leadership team develops a competitive strategy for each facility, Lindsay Goldberg fund strategic investments for each facility, and the teams in each facility perform at high levels. It is a winning combination.”
Performance highlights
o Port Townsend Paper, Port Townsend WA: since 2015, Crown Paper Group has invested $48 million to improve competitiveness and reliability, including: $2.4 million in a PM2 I-table forming section, in 2018; $3.3 million in natural gas burners and control systems for the power boiler, kiln, and package boiler, and delivery and decompression systems for the kiln and boilers; $2.7 million in a reverse osmosis system; $10 million in boiler refurbishment for Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) compliance and to reduce particulate and greenhouse gas emissions.
o Crown Packaging, Vancouver BC: Crown Paper Group invested $3.6 million in rotary die cutter and corrugator knife upgrades. The plant team significantly improved productivity. Highlights: January 2018 — single day record for midsize Langston FFG: 120,613 feeds; July 2018 — single day record for Ward 4 Color with Bundle Breaker line: 90,957 feeds; August 2018 – single day record for mini Langston FFG: 211,236 feeds; September 2018 – one month record for total facility converting: 5.09 million square feet per day.
o Boxmaster, Vancouver BC: Crown Paper Group invested in design center upgrades and sales force development, resulting in significant growth.
o Montebello Container; La Mirada CA, Pico Rivera CA, and Santa Fe CA: Crown Paper Group implemented new safety processes, procedures, training, personal protection equipment, and near miss investigations; decreased safety incidents from 25 in 2015 to five in 2018, and decreased the recordable incident rate from 11.35 in 2015 to 1.83 in 2018. Each plant earned a Fibre Box Association Safety Excellence Award in 2018.
o La Mirada CA: Crown Paper Group invested $6.3 million in a 98” Fosber continuous running dry end, increased production from 3.93 million square feet in 2015 to 4.9 million square feet in 2018, and decreased waste from 11.62 percent in 2015 to 7.6 percent in 2018.
o Pico Rivera CA: Crown Paper Group invested $1.5 million to modify double backer plates and install an upgraded triple stack preheater, and decreased waste from 18.99 percent in 2015 to 11.35 percent in 2018.
o Santa Fe: decreased waste from 9.28 percent in 2015 to 5.83 percent in 2018.
