1960s

1962
Great Northern Container Corporation was founded in Appleton, Wis., by three partners, J. James Davis, Bob Brown and John Maring.

"Continued pressure in the race for expansion among major converters has created opportunities for local sheet plant operations," [J. James] Davis said, in explaining the decision to launch the converting business. "There is a tendency among local companies to place more and more orders locally."
--from "Converting Plant Nears Completion," Appleton Post-Crescent, September 9, 1962

1964
Great Northern broadens its services by adding a plastics division.

1965
Great Northern expands from a single shift to a three-shift operation.

1966
The manufacturing facility in Appleton is doubled to 60,000 square feet.

A Great Northern employee works at the sample table in
the 1960s

1967
A 30,000-square-foot manufacturing facility is constructed in Racine, Wis.

1968
This cloth calendar towels display was completed in 1968.

1969
The Appleton facility expands to 87,000 square feet.

1970s

1972
Great Northern celebrates a decade of success by throwing a 10th-anniversary party.

Great Northern purchases a plastics company and begins offering expanded polystyrene (EPS) products.

Racine adds 33,000 square feet for additional converting equipment.

1973
Laminations, a joint venture between Great Northern and Hayes Manufacturing Group, begins operations in Neenah, Wis.

Original VBoard® corner protection.

1976
Great Northern forms the Specialty Group, consisting of Rollguard® Products and Custom Packaging.

Original Rollguard® roll protection.

80,000-square-foot facility is constructed across from the original Appleton facility, and Great Northern installs its
own corrugator.

Appleton plant expansion.

To coincide with our country's bicentennial, a large "Declaration of Independence" party was thrown to celebrate the freedom the new corrugator machine at the Appleton plant gave Great Northern to produce its own sheet stock.

1977
The first flatbed die cutter is installed at the Container Group's Appleton facility.

1979
A separate packing operation is launched in Racine to offer subassembly and pre-packing services to point-of-purchase display customers.

Quench Gum point-of-purchase display created for Mueller Chemical, Inc. in the late 1970s.

Racine Container facility expands with a 40,000-square-foot addition.

1980s

1980
Great Northern sells its plastics facility to Tuscarora Inc., retaining its custom foam product patents and selling rights from the Specialty Group operation to administer design and sales.

1981
Great Northern begins to automate all operations with a computer system.

1985
The decade is marked by the "Going Great" campaign, a marketing initiative that reflected the continued growth and success of the company.

Great Northern completes a rebuild of the dry end of the corrugator, including the addition of a direct-drive knife system.

At the Racine facility, Great Northern installs an Automatan 4050 Laminator.

Great Northern establishes a state-of-the-art box testing facility, which allows shock vibration, compression, incline-impact and drop testing.

1986
A 90,000-square-foot addition to the Appleton facility allows the consolidation of all high-speed converting equipment. At the same time, the entire production facility is equipped with a computer automated conveyor system, making this facility one of the most modern box operations in the country.

Employees celebrate the groundbreaking of the new expansion.

1987
J. James Davis and Robert W. Brown, co-founders and co-chairmen of Great Northern Corporation, retire.

"We had a very successful summer and have just completed two record-setting months in a row...while our performance has been very good in the past the possibilities that exist with this new equipment [on the dry end of the corrugator] will give us an opportunity to be more productive and have even better quality."
-As written by Don Hansen, Scheduling Coordinator, in Great Northern's newsletter, the "Great News Chronicle," December, 1985.

Great Northern celebrates the company's 25th anniversary.

Great Northern installs cellular phones in company vehicles, allowing customers instant contact through a dual personal paging and mobile phone system.

1990s

1992
"Packline," the Display Group's pre-packing and assembly operation, moves to an 80,000-square-foot facility in Racine.

1994
The Racine Container facility expands with a 108,000-square-foot addition, including a 20,000-square-foot section for the Display Group.

A $2 million United flexo folder-gluer is installed at the Appleton facility.

1995
Great Northern acquires Laminations, headquartered in Neenah, Wis., with production facilities in Wisconsin, California, Florida, Pennsylvania and Oregon.

Laminations' original offices and plant in Neenah, Wis.

The Racine facility enhances its graphic capabilities with the installation of a 5-color United flexographic press.

1996
The Appleton facility installs an in-house ink kitchen to provide more accurate color matches, quicker machine set-up and more cost-effective management of printing capabilities.

The world's largest litho labeler is installed at the Racine facility.

1997
Great Northern acquires Special Touch Inc. in Dale, Wis., and forms Packaging Services Inc (PSI) to provide packaging and product assembly, collating, sorting, mailing, inventory management and distribution services.

UV coating capabilities are installed at the Racine facility to provide retail packaging customers with high-gloss graphic options.

1998
The Racine facility expands again with a 90,000-square-foot addition that is completely conveyorized to facilitate stock handling. The facility now covers 320,000 square feet—more than seven acres.

Laminations celebrates its 25th year by building a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, Fla. and opening warehousing locations in Denver and Louisville, Ky.

The Appleton Container Group facility installs a new Automatän large-format litho labeler that is capable of spot, full or panel labeling on sheet stock and joined cartons.

A new Martin 3-color flexo folder/gluer/die cutter, capable of producing 400 finished corrugated packages per minute, is installed at the Racine Container Group facility.

2000s

The Container and Display Groups achieve ISO certification, defining a level of performance customers and suppliers can expect.

The Appleton Container Group installs a new Fosber Twin Evolution Dry End, which allows the facility to offer more design, packaging and shipping options, while substantially increasing internal production efficiencies.

2001
The Appleton Container Group installs a J & L Specialty Folder Gluer for high-speed folding and joining of specialty
box designs.

2002
Great Northern celebrates its 40th anniversary.

2003
Laminations celebrates its 30th anniversary.

The Container Group installs four interstation flexo dryers, a final flexo dryer and a UV curing system on its five-color United Flexus press at the Racine location. This equipment prints exceptionally high-quality graphics on high-holdout clay-coated liners and reduces cycle time. In addition, the new UV coating system offers excellent gloss capabilities.

The Appleton location of the Container Group installs a new Emba 170 mini Flexo Folder Gluer. The machine drastically reduces set-up time to ensure faster turnaround times on small-run orders.

Laminations moves its West facility to Fontana, Calif., to increase production efficiencies for improved quality
and service.

The Container and Display Groups achieve certification under the new ISO 2000 standards.

2004
The Container Group makes a number of significant investments in upgrades to its corrugated manufacturing operation at the Appleton facility. These new technologies, including new wet end equipment on the corrugator, a new Fosber Constant System rotary shear, upgrades to the temperature controls, a new Ringwood temperature and viscosity control system and a new computer-controlled corrugator discharge conveyer system, accelerate cycle times and ensure improved end product.

Laminations introduces Extruded VBoard®, its first-ever plastic VBoard configuration, guaranteeing a host of benefits against damaging conditions.

Laminations introduces ChannelLock™, a new product that combines the benefits of u-channel protection with the shipping efficiencies of VBoard. It ships nested, saving customers up to 75% on shipping costs compared to pre-formed or pre-assembled u-shaped products.

Great Northern purchases Kell Corporation, which includes Kell Container, Kell Specialty Products and Kell Fulfillment. The coming together of the two privately held, family-owned companies results in a powerful resource that offers many advantages to customers of both companies.

Great Northern installs three new loading docks at the
Appleton plant.

A completely new system is installed in the ink kitchen, including an INX Novaflow Gravimetric dispenser with the latest software.

2005
The Packaging Group undergoes a strategic realignment of resources and capabilities that focuses on two areas of customers' needs: Commercial Packaging and Consumer Packaging & Display.

Great Northern partners with Castle-Pierce, a commercial printer with more than 115 years' experience in their industry, to form a joint venture: StrataGraph.

The innovative all-in-one insulated Cool Crate™ packaging system is introduced.

2006
Great Northern Packaging Group’s Appleton facility expands

on-site warehouse space to 75,0000 square feet.

Packaging Group adds Emba 245 Quick Set Flexo Folder

Gluer and Bobst Autoplaten® SPO 160-Vision Flatbed Die

Cutter at Appleton facility.

Laminations expands facility and capabilities at Northwest

facility with move and new VBoard machine.

Great Northern opens new East Coast design center in Swedesboro, New Jersey.