WEBVTT 1 00:00:19.060 --> 00:00:25.900 Future archivists will duly note that very early on the morning of June 18, 1976, the 2 00:00:25.900 --> 00:00:31.960 sun rose as usual and cast its slanting rays westward over the natural and man-made details 3 00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:33.480 of Anzio, Italy. 4 00:00:55.560 --> 00:01:01.160 Approximately 24 hours later, as it started to set out over the Pacific horizon, the sun's 5 00:01:01.360 --> 00:01:06.520 rays slanted eastward over the natural and man-made details of our long western coastline, 6 00:01:07.520 --> 00:01:15.680 thereby completing its 18,263rd consecutive passage over, among much else, the well-dispersed 7 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.280 facilities of Container Corporation of America. 8 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:26.080 On that particular day, those facilities numbered 150 and were located in seven countries in 9 00:01:26.080 --> 00:01:27.140 two hemispheres. 10 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:34.620 The point of this record is that this precise succession of passages by the sun added up to 11 00:01:34.620 --> 00:01:37.420 our first 50 years as a corporate entity. 12 00:01:53.140 --> 00:01:55.880 We were not always so widely dispersed. 13 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:01.760 Back in 1926, with home base in Chicago and our easternmost point in Philadelphia, 14 00:02:02.520 --> 00:02:07.300 just two time zones could well accommodate the 14 mills and plants that made up our 15 00:02:07.300 --> 00:02:11.360 original corporate package, so much for geographic scale. 16 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:17.480 Among the changes and effects of change that the sun illuminated in our first half century 17 00:02:17.480 --> 00:02:22.900 was America's expanding urbanization, one of the results of which was to increase the 18 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:25.660 logistical gap between producer and consumer. 19 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:37.380 In consequence, the produce of our fields and gardens, no less than the output of our 20 00:02:37.380 --> 00:02:43.140 mills and factories, had to be transported farther, faster, and to more people than ever 21 00:02:43.140 --> 00:02:43.720 before. 22 00:02:51.040 --> 00:02:57.180 This process of change was already underway in 1926, a time when America's love affair 23 00:02:57.180 --> 00:03:03.400 with the automobile was well along, but a time also when farm wagons were still sold 24 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:05.360 through the catalogs of Montgomery Ward. 25 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:12.280 The consuming and somewhat brash ambition of our young corporate forebears was to make 26 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:17.700 board packaging the link that would more efficiently close the widening gap between producers and 27 00:03:17.700 --> 00:03:18.240 consumers. 28 00:03:20.020 --> 00:03:24.980 Their goal was to concentrate paperboard's advantages on making packaging not only more 29 00:03:24.980 --> 00:03:30.160 responsive to changes already in progress, but also capable of anticipating the problems 30 00:03:30.160 --> 00:03:34.300 and opportunities that continuing distribution developments would bring. 31 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:40.120 They assumed that their biggest problem would be to convince shippers that paperboard packaging 32 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:45.180 could be entrusted with the distribution and related tasks, then being performed predominantly 33 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:46.540 by wooden containers. 34 00:03:48.420 --> 00:03:52.360 And that did indeed take some doing, especially in the early days. 35 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:58.500 But with the help of other industry pioneers, containers first generation proceeded to meet 36 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:03.680 the day-to-day challenges of proving that paperboard was a more versatile, less costly 37 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:08.840 packaging material than wood could ever be, and that paperboard's expanding application 38 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:13.020 would make a broader range of products available to consumers than ever before. 39 00:04:14.880 --> 00:04:20.560 Given these advantages, it seems natural enough, in retrospect, that paperboard would be the 40 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:22.320 packaging material of the future. 41 00:04:23.320 --> 00:04:25.260 So much for mismatched competitors. 42 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:34.980 All kinds of technology, including paperboard technology, have come a long way in our first 43 00:04:34.980 --> 00:04:40.140 half century, but paperboard is as contemporary today as the computer. 44 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:46.280 In fact, the computer helped shape the precision and variety of paperboard's performance-intensive 45 00:04:46.280 --> 00:04:46.960 capabilities. 46 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:54.240 Ask us to define paperboard, and we would say that paperboard is paper with muscle, 47 00:04:54.680 --> 00:04:59.960 incorporating all the inherent communication capacities of paper, so long and so well regarded 48 00:04:59.960 --> 00:05:05.100 for these properties, with the addition of strength and resistance qualities required 49 00:05:05.100 --> 00:05:09.780 for versatile, practical, economical product packaging and distribution. 50 00:05:15.520 --> 00:05:21.060 Paperboard is also light in weight, variable in structure, and is limitless in innovative 51 00:05:21.060 --> 00:05:24.340 application as creative imagination is limitless. 52 00:05:25.780 --> 00:05:28.120 There is an additional important advantage. 53 00:05:29.080 --> 00:05:34.480 Paper and paperboard share a regenerative process, unique in contemporary technology, 54 00:05:34.880 --> 00:05:43.960 a process that reduces a natural solid, wood, to its tiny basic fibrous components, which 55 00:05:43.960 --> 00:05:49.820 in a 98% water solution are then reformed during a very fast trip through the paperboard 56 00:05:49.820 --> 00:05:55.960 machine into an entirely different solid state, embodying a vast new range of capabilities. 57 00:05:57.200 --> 00:06:02.700 Fortunately, in view of increasing ecological and related concerns, there is a valuable 58 00:06:02.700 --> 00:06:05.520 extra dimension to this regenerative capability. 59 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:12.440 After virtually any of its numerous application options, paper and paperboard can be recycled, 60 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:18.760 reduced again to their fibrous components, remixed with water and other chemicals, and 61 00:06:18.760 --> 00:06:24.900 remade into another generation of useful material, conserving and expanding valuable natural 62 00:06:24.900 --> 00:06:25.300 growth. 63 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:33.200 So the solid to liquid to solid cycle goes on and on, with only minimal additives and 64 00:06:33.200 --> 00:06:33.960 modifications. 65 00:06:34.900 --> 00:06:38.280 So much for an old process, ingeniously updated. 66 00:06:45.340 --> 00:06:49.900 What the creatively inspired can do with a material so well endowed with potential for 67 00:06:49.900 --> 00:06:55.660 constructive expression can be easily demonstrated with a lot of creative helpers. 68 00:06:56.080 --> 00:07:02.060 Take a roll of newly formed paperboard, unroll a hundred feet or so, and try to visualize 69 00:07:02.060 --> 00:07:06.700 the sheer volume of utility, convenience, and communication potential you have laid 70 00:07:06.700 --> 00:07:10.640 out, appropriately enough, right on the piney woods floor. 71 00:07:11.880 --> 00:07:16.880 Of course, it would probably never happen, but try to imagine how a passing troop of 72 00:07:17.100 --> 00:07:20.920 schoolchildren would react to all that smooth, responsive surface. 73 00:07:28.620 --> 00:07:39.400 My oh my, how they would draw, and print, and color. 74 00:07:44.580 --> 00:07:56.740 How they would cut, and fold, and form, and even fly. 75 00:07:57.880 --> 00:08:04.020 How they would, in a word, create with and on that roll of paperboard. 76 00:08:08.180 --> 00:08:13.540 In our first half century, we have found that a lot of grownup children respond the same 77 00:08:13.540 --> 00:08:18.720 way, and with training to augment their natural talents and feelings for the medium, they 78 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:34.000 also draw, and print, and color. 79 00:08:46.980 --> 00:08:52.140 And sometimes even fly. 80 00:08:57.060 --> 00:09:02.580 Better yet, they translate their applied imagery to the reproduction processes that can expand 81 00:09:02.580 --> 00:09:04.520 their artistry a million fold. 82 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:11.780 Other talented grownups monitor scoring, cutting, and folding actions, so that further down 83 00:09:11.780 --> 00:09:20.800 the line, still others can fill, seal, move, store, display, and attract. 84 00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:27.180 With these things properly accounted for, the all-important consumer enters the equation, 85 00:09:29.140 --> 00:09:37.380 and suitably appealed to, selects the packaged product, makes the purchase, takes the package 86 00:09:37.380 --> 00:09:46.160 home, dispenses the product, and recycles the package, thereby starting the whole regenerative 87 00:09:46.160 --> 00:09:47.840 process all over again. 88 00:09:49.420 --> 00:09:54.340 In our first half century, we have learned a lot about the care and feeding of paperboard's 89 00:09:54.340 --> 00:10:07.360 range of potentials, how to let it inform, how to let it accommodate, how to let it 90 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:09.480 use its muscle where it really counts. 91 00:10:13.420 --> 00:10:19.320 Structural design is the key to paperboard packaging function, and structure is as variable 92 00:10:19.320 --> 00:10:21.360 as product needs are variable. 93 00:10:23.300 --> 00:10:34.980 Fragility and ruggedness are equally packageable in paperboard, as are lightness and density, 94 00:10:35.800 --> 00:10:41.720 small and large, liquid, solid, and in between. 95 00:10:43.300 --> 00:10:48.340 Also in our first half century, automation of the production line had to be matched by 96 00:10:48.340 --> 00:10:50.080 automation on the packaging line. 97 00:10:52.420 --> 00:10:58.740 Consequently, we are now in our second generation of mechanical packaging specialists. Their 98 00:10:58.740 --> 00:11:04.060 activities assure packaging performance on the producer's home grounds to match subsequent 99 00:11:04.060 --> 00:11:06.100 distribution and marketing performance. 100 00:11:12.980 --> 00:11:18.740 With structural and automation performance capabilities assured, the visual dimensions 101 00:11:18.740 --> 00:11:24.880 of package design can add their valuable supports by communicating product identity, origin, 102 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:30.260 and pertinent related information to serve both the producer's responsibilities and the 103 00:11:30.260 --> 00:11:31.440 consumer's well-being. 104 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:37.140 But even when we have determined that a specific packaging solution is performance capable 105 00:11:37.140 --> 00:11:43.240 in its own terms, we don't recommend the production commitment until we find out how it will be 106 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:51.120 perceived and therefore accepted or rejected by its ultimate target user, the consumer. 107 00:11:52.660 --> 00:11:57.560 It is easier to make these determinations today because early in our first half century, 108 00:11:58.120 --> 00:12:03.200 we pioneered the integration of scientific marketing procedures with design operations 109 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:09.340 through our design and market research laboratories. We should note some other pertinent lessons 110 00:12:09.340 --> 00:12:15.080 of our first half century. One, the fact that as superior as paperboard packaging proved 111 00:12:15.080 --> 00:12:21.580 to be, it cannot do everything better. That's why we added plastics packaging to our design 112 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:27.640 and production capabilities. The Plastics Division of Container Corporation pioneered 113 00:12:27.640 --> 00:12:33.140 the development of the plastic drum, which is unapproachable in its ability to safely 114 00:12:33.140 --> 00:12:39.420 transport and store a broad range of essential substances, including the most hazardous chemicals 115 00:12:39.420 --> 00:12:40.360 in use today. 116 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:52.220 On quite a different scale, another lesson learned was the mutual benefits of a selective 117 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:59.440 joining of forces. In 1968, Container Corporation entered into a merger with Montgomery Ward 118 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:10.340 to form MarCore. As predicted by our management, this merger produced improved strength and 119 00:13:10.340 --> 00:13:15.880 MarCore's continuing high performance attracted a major investment by Mobile Oil Corporation 120 00:13:15.880 --> 00:13:23.920 in 1974 to implement that organization's own diversification objectives. As of early July 121 00:13:23.920 --> 00:13:30.400 1976, the complete merger of MarCore into a newly formed holding company, Mobile Corporation, 122 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:36.180 made Container Corporation a major element of the nation's third largest business enterprise. 123 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:44.680 In the broadest terms, this just about summarizes who we are and what we are about at this point 124 00:13:44.680 --> 00:13:50.300 in our continuum. We have deliberately resisted the urge to show you even more of the treasured 125 00:13:50.300 --> 00:13:55.780 snapshots from our corporate archives, but we will point out a few examples of our advertising 126 00:13:55.780 --> 00:14:04.480 in the mid-1930s, not because they suggest nostalgia, but because they don't. The point 127 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:10.000 is that our advertising of four decades back, when we were barely ten years old, could be 128 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:15.980 run today without really suggesting times long past. And the significance of that is 129 00:14:15.980 --> 00:14:21.260 the historical fact that Container was the first organization to assign advertising and 130 00:14:21.260 --> 00:14:30.160 corporate design programs to artists and designers of international stature. Artists and designers 131 00:14:30.160 --> 00:14:38.160 whose work has worn very well. That direction, initiated by Walter P. Pepke, our founder 132 00:14:38.160 --> 00:14:43.160 and first chief executive officer, put us firmly on the leading edge of the communication 133 00:14:43.160 --> 00:14:48.860 arts, a position we will work to maintain and build on in the decades ahead. 134 00:14:55.560 --> 00:15:00.920 Finally, we should note that it is those decades ahead that we wish to emphasize here. 135 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:07.320 In our first half century, our goal was to help packaging become an increasingly valuable 136 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:12.000 contributor to the industrial society. And this is a continuing goal. 137 00:15:18.860 --> 00:15:25.060 But in our second half century, we share a far more serious responsibility. Packaging 138 00:15:25.060 --> 00:15:30.860 must do its part in helping the whole world meet the critical challenges posed by ever-expanding 139 00:15:30.860 --> 00:15:36.620 demands on diminishing resources. That, too, is our continuing goal. 140 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:01.400 Thank you.