Inland's Expanding Vision

For more than 70 years, a distinct vision and mission has developed in western Wisconsin. But after firmly establishing itself as a leader in the cut-and-stack label industry, Inland’s vision has spread. With an ever-changing marketplace, it has grown into new market and product segments, and is adding state-of-the-art printing technologies.

Mark Glendenning, owner and CEO of La Crosse, Wis.-based Inland, explains that ever since his grandfather John Glendenning bought the company in 1944, customer satisfaction has been the No. 1 priority. Mark’s father, Jack Glendenning, carried that mission forward and added a vision of growth when he took over in the 1970s. And now Mark Glendenning and the Inland team have brought the firmly established Inland vision into pressure-sensitive labels, shrink labels and flexible packaging through strategic acquisitions and expansions.

“We’ve had that special sauce of the people and our culture in La Crosse for a lot of years,” Glendenning says. “When we looked for acquisitions, I [remembered] some very good advice I got a number of years ago. Above all else, make sure there’s a cultural fit.”

Growth in All Directions

(From left) Stephen Dudley, flexographic support associate; Bill Dudley, production manager; Steve Dudley, operations manager; and Joe Dudley, flexographic support associate, review a proof at the Downingtown, Pa., facility.

Printing has always been the core of Inland’s services. It started out as a small commercial print shop, expanding into the label business in the 1970s. Playing to its geographic position, Inland connected with the G. Heileman Brewing Co., also based in La Crosse, and began printing the brewery’s labels.

Because of its roots in commercial printing, Glendenning explains Inland already had a fleet of offset presses, which gave it an advantage during its initial expansion into labels. At the time, Glendenning says, beer labels were primarily printed using rotogravure presses. But, with changing regulations surrounding mandatory information that was required to appear on beer packaging, G. Heileman was in need of a new printing partner.

“As mandatory information and refund information came into play, they really needed a fast way to do it and we had offset capabilities,” Glendenning says. “That’s how we got into the label business. And because of our service and technical capabilities of going into gravure, we were able to really grow within the beer industry. It still is a good underpinning of what we do in label.”

While becoming a leading supplier of beer and beverage labels provided a strong foundation for Inland, the company expanded into several other large markets, including food, household goods and personal care. Inland now has two manufacturing facilities and two warehouse facilities in La Crosse.

Though the company now had a hand in many varied consumer packaged good markets, Scott May, senior VP of sales and marketing, says a similar trend became evident. In all the markets they served, May says, many of Inland’s customers needed a full portfolio of packaging.

“What we’re seeing with a lot of our existing customers and a lot of our prospects is our marketplace is so dynamic,” May says. “They’re switching between different decoration technologies and different types of containers.”

New Locations Bring New Capabilities

As the cut-and-stack label market has largely remained flat, the Inland team made the decision to expand into the pressure sensitive field. Guy Billing, Inland’s VP of operations, explains that for the past eight years, the company has been growing its pressure sensitive business through outsource partners.

By entering the market this way, Billing explains Inland gained substantial experience selling pressure-sensitive labels and learned quite a bit about the product segment. But, it wasn’t until October 2015, when Inland acquired Monet Graphics of Downingtown, Pa., that it was able to take on pressure sensitive capabilities.

Inland will be adding two Nilpeter FA-4* presses to its Downingtown, Pa., facility.

The acquisition added a fully flexographic facility to the Inland family. And less than a year into the acquisition, the new location is set to receive a significant upgrade. The first of two new Nilpeter FA-4* flexographic presses will be installed this month, with a second to be added in the fall.

Billing explains that the pressure-sensitive label capacity Inland brought to the Downingtown facility through the acquisition drove the need for the new presses. He says the goal in adding the new equipment is to drive as much cost out of the label production process as possible and the speed and control capabilities of the Nilpeters were particularly attractive.

“Changeover time, speed to color and register, and control of the product while it’s being produced are all extremely important,” he says. “The fact that each of those printing units has seven servos is extremely significant when it comes to changing over, especially when you’re running repeat work.”

While pressure-sensitive labels are a growing force in the label market, Inland recently made its first foray into a completely different segment of the packaging industry.

In April, Inland announced it had acquired Valley Label of Neenah, Wis., a flexible packaging printer and converter, which also produced shrink, pressure-sensitive and roll-fed labels. May explains that the acquisition of Valley Label and the addition of flexible packaging developed through Inland’s understanding of its customer’s needs. Flexible packaging is continuing to grow in the North American market, May says, and CPG companies are realizing a need for versatility in their packaging options.

“There’s not a lot of growth in rigid containers overall, and a lot of consumers and CPGs are moving from rigid to flexible packaging, or at least want to have the flexibility to introduce new products or line extensions,” May says. “Or they want to have the flexibility to go back and forth between rigid and flex pack.”

Digitizing Color

As a company with gravure, offset and flexographic capabilities, Inland has shown it is not partial to a particular print process. Instead, Billing explains, Inland has placed its focus on finding the best print process for its customers’ needs and ensuring their desired colors will be up to par.

Inland’s arsenal of equipment includes five Heidelberg sheetfed offset presses, a Komori web offset press, 19 flexo presses — which include several Mark Andys, Nilpeters and Comcos — along with two HP Indigo digital presses and a 52˝ UV inkjet press.

(From left) Carl Foust, offset press operator; Mark Glendenning, CEO; and Trisha Tobias, offline jogger, stand in the press room of the La Crosse, Wis., offset facility.

Billing explains that because Inland’s individual customers may require varying types of packaging, produced on multiple presses, it’s imperative that the customer’s brand colors match across all of its products. This need has driven Inland to develop a system for ensuring its color reproduction is consistent across its multiple print processes in all of its locations.

“Color needed to become digital,” Billing says. “We spent a lot of time understanding how to create a digital workflow for color. With the help of some outside partners we have come a long way in creating a digital color workflow. It’s still in its infancy, but it’s proven to be extremely successful across print processes.”

Inland’s ability to replicate its customers’ colors across their entire packaging lines has been an essential part of the company’s expansion, Jackie Kuehlmann, Inland’s director of marketing explains.

She says that as markets and consumer preferences shift, companies are seeking new ways to package their products. Becoming a single source for several types of package printing makes it easy for Inland’s customers to acquire packaging from a single source.

“As the market changes, companies are trying to find alternative ways to get consumers to purchase their product,” she says. “It might be the same product in multiple package types for different buying occasions. We wanted to be the supplier to provide them with all of those decoration and package types. Simplifying the supply chain makes it a benefit for them and a benefit for us.”

The People Behind the Process

As a family-owned business since the 1940s, Inland has had the luxury of several decades to establish its mission, vision and culture in La Crosse. However, as any company that has grown through acquisition can attest, ensuring a newly acquired location adapts to that culture can be a challenge.

Luckily for Inland, Glendenning says the teams in Downingtown and Neenah have quickly adapted to becoming part of the Inland family, largely because the cultures were already quite similar to what had been implemented at Inland.

“As a team, we decided the keys to our acquisitions beyond specific technology and product extensions were getting people who had the technical capability that we desired and the cultural fit that we felt was imperative,” Glendenning says.