Jayhawk Boxes earns Chamber recognition

22 Jan 2014


Member News

Article By:  Fremont Tribune   |   Stephen Rickerl

 

A multi-million dollar investment at Jayhawk Boxes has put Fremont on the global map as professionals from around the world are coming to town to see the most state-of-the-art machinery their industry has to offer.

The company’s dedication to growth, innovation and community involvement led to the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce naming Jayhawk Boxes its Business of the Year for companies with more than 25 employees. It will be honored Wednesday at the annual awards luncheon, which is presented by the Fremont Tribune.

“It’s very exciting,” said Steve Rector, Jayhawk Boxes general manager. “We’re kind of a quiet company on the south-side of Fremont here so to be recognized by the community is pretty neat.”

Jayhawk Boxes was established in Fremont in 1957 by its parent company, Lawrence Paper Company out of Lawrence, Kan. Hormel Foods contacted the company founders to become a key supplier for their production. The Lawrence Paper Company decided to build a second location in Fremont rather than ship boxes to Hormel from Kansas.

Five decades later, Jayhawk Boxes still supplies Hormel Foods, and 300 other customers in Nebraska, western Iowa and southern South Dakota.

In its more than 50 years in Fremont, Jayhawk Boxes has grown to a leader of the corrugated goods industry that employs 58 individuals at its 230,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. In the last three years the company has invested almost $8 million into its Fremont facility to house the industry’s most state-of-the-art machinery. A first in the world converting machine has brought the company attention from Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Japan and all regions of the United States, said Rector.

Rector said the hi-tech machinery not only gives the company a competitive advantage, but it allows people from all over the world to be introduced to Jayhawk Boxes and the greater Fremont community.

 

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