Research suggests that people who live past the age of 100 do so partially because of fortunate genetics, but primarily because of favorable lifestyle choices. When companies achieve comparable levels of longevity, it could be said that a similar mix of factors helps them endure. One case in point is Keller Crescent, a Greensboro, N.C.-headquartered printer and converter of healthcare secondary packaging that is celebrating 125 years in the industry. For Keller Crescent, which currently enjoys a strong market presence in pressure-sensitive roll labels, package inserts and outserts, and folding cartons for the pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare packaged goods industries, longevity is a product of a solid financial and infrastructural foundation and, most significantly, a long history of smart strategic choices.
"We have seen many changes and have repositioned the company many times to provide the products and services –required by a changing customer base," explains Bill Mitchell, CEO of Keller Crescent. Founded in 1885 as an Evansville, Ind.-based letterpress printing shop by steamboat captain and Civil War officer William H. Keller, the company made its first strategic market decision with the advent of World War II, when it shifted its founding focus on steam book and job printing, bookbinding, and blank book manufacturing to government work, including the printing of rifle targets and rifle operation manuals.
The next pivotal strategic market choice the company faced arose in the early 1960s with the decline in the traditional letterpress market; in response to the trend, Keller Crescent instituted a large-scale retraining program to facilitate entry into the board specialty, packaging, and point-of-purchase businesses, while preserving jobs and optimizing employees' existing skill sets. In 1989, the company chose to transition to a sole focus on the production of pharmaceutical packaging and labels—a decision that has spurred significant growth, even in the turbulent economic climate of recent years.
Concurrent to these market-driven shifts has been a series of organizational changes aimed to establish the optimal financial and management foundation for Keller Crescent's long-term success—including the 1968 sale of Keller Crescent to American Standard; the subsequent buyback of the company by management in 1986; and more recently, the 2007 acquisition of Keller Crescent by global packaging manufacturer Clondalkin Group. Clondalkin went on to merge Keller Crescent's operations with those of pharmaceutical packaging manufacturer Pharmagraphics, which resulted in the shift of Keller Crescent headquarters from Evansville, Ind., to Greensboro, N.C.; the doubling of its facilities from three to six; and the creation of an expanded capacity to meet label and folding carton customers needs. This capability includes 25 presses (flexographic, offset, and letterpress), 50 folders, 15 glue lines, an assortment of diecutters, and more than 600 manufacturing employees. "Given our resources and the unique mixture of experience brought by these three converging operations, we have the potential to be so much more of a market presence together than we ever could have had apart," Mitchell observes.
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