Packaging company in midst of $32 million upgrade
Bell: New building will include $6 million press machine
By Kelly Hidebrandt
khildebra@argusleader.com
February 16, 2006, 2:55 am
Bell Inc. printed 73,000 miles of paper in 2005 - enough to go around the world almost three times.
Formerly Bell Paper Box, the company produces packages for several Fortune 500 companies.
DHL and UPS envelopes, GE light bulb packages and McDonald's french fry boxes are just a few examples of items flying through the company's presses on any given day.
Bell also is the largest producer of express courier envelopes in the world with a production rate of about a million a day, said Ben Graham, vice president of sales and marketing.
The company is in the middle of a four-year, $32 million expansion project with the aim of almost doubling its business within three years.
That's a lofty goal.
Located at 1411 D Ave., the company recently bought another building down the street at 609 W. Algonquin St., just south of the Sioux Falls Regional Airport.
The packaging company isn't the largest of its kind, but it's moving up the ladder with an eye toward food manufacturing giants such as ConAgra Foods Inc. and General Mills. Food manufacturing is a good fit for the business, which in the heart of the Midwest is within 500 miles of many potential clients.
Within the next year, Bell will add about 25 new jobs, and during the next three years, a total of 105 should move into the company's two buildings. To reach that goal, Graham said they hope to add one to two clients a year.
Workers spent the past month preparing the new building for production.
"We took it down to the ground and up to the ceiling," Graham said of the renovation. "Everything in this building is new."
In 2007, the company's headquarters will move to the new building and the existing facility will be used for manufacturing and warehouse space.
Inside is a new $6 million Variable Sleeve Offset Press with room to add three more in coming years.
"This is kind of the cornerstone of our expansion," Graham said. "It's the first one of its kind in North America."
Not only is the press digital, it also has better printing technology that fits well for food packaging, he said.
Not many people know of the company that's hidden among the barracks buildings in the city's first industrial park that originally was part of the U.S. Army Air Corp.'s training base during World War II.
"It's an interesting company because not many people pay attention to what's going on out there," said Dan Scott, president of Sioux Falls Development Foundation. "The reality is we have one of the premier paper box companies in the world."
The company focuses on working closely with a relatively small number of larger companies, such as GE, instead of servicing a large large of small clients.
What's allowed the company to expand are lean manufacturing concepts that improved efficiencies in operation. The new building, built by Jordan Millwork Co., is a long slim building that was made for lean manufacturing.
Lean manufacturing puts production in linear fashion to cut down on time spent moving the product from one area to the next.
"Paper comes in one end and the finished product goes out the other," Graham said.
Since 2004, Bell Inc. has been working with Dakota Manufacturing Extension Partnership Inc. to improve efficiencies. It's part of a national group working to grow manufacturing nationwide.
The process includes identifying what adds value to the company and getting rid of wasteful activity, said Randy Schwartz, director of the program.
"Another thing that's really important in lean manufacturing is to make better utilization of their most valuable asset, which is their people," Schwartz said.
Bell is the type of company the partnership wants to work with because it's not just looking to cut costs, but it wants to become more efficient to grow the business, Schwartz said.
Reach Kelly Hildebrandt at 331-2322.
