It’s Just Good Business Sense

Hanover Packaging takes sustainability 
beyond being a buzz word.

Hanover Packaging, with Larry and Rhonda Chatzkel, CEO and president respectively, at the helm, has been an evolving business since its founding in 1924. Corporate entities may have changed, but the company that Larry's grandfather started 85 years ago making rigid set-up boxes for Philadelphia's manufacturing base continues to be known as an innovative and customer-focused organization. "The company started in Philadelphia serving the publishing, candy, and haberdashery manufacturers based there, and as manufacturing left Philadelphia, our company changed both its industry focus, and the types of packaging it produced. As all good businesses do, we evolved to meet the needs of our market," says Rhonda.

This evolution has resulted in Hanover manufacturing the full gamut of substrates and packaging. "We started off with set-up boxes," says Larry. "From set-up boxes, we developed expertise in folding cartons and, in the early '90s, expanded to produce both rigid and folding transparent cartons. Our plastic capabilities span PVC, APET, RPET, and polypropylene. This has been particularly helpful as our customers have begun to focus on sustainability and have asked us to switch from PVC to APET and RPET."

In addition to a focus on sustainability, what makes the company distinctive, according to Rhonda, is its turnkey service. "What's unique about the company," she says, "is that when a customer comes to us, and it's got a new launch or it wants to reposition one of its brands, our designers are capable of developing packaging concepts that may include rigid boxes, folding cartons, combination or windowed cartons, transparent cartons, or facets of each."

So, for example, a company might approach Hanover to develop designs for a new product launch. "We work with our customers to understand their brand image, their retail venue, and their price point," says Rhonda. "Through a process of collaboration, we build a design that works and take them from design, through production, co-packing, and delivery. We also have the ability to achieve very distinctive graphics through our new KBA press, including specialty coatings, which can take even a standard tuck carton to a very high level. Over several months, the designs will be refined until the company's product and its new package are launched into the market.

"I think one of the reasons customers come back is that we are a turnkey and can pull these elements of a successful package together for them. They'll start with an idea, and we'll take them to execution and shipment."

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• SUSTAINABILITY
• OFFSET PRINTING