Experience Speaks: Myron Geiser

Published: July 01, 2011

• General Manager of Capri Packaging

• How did you get into the converting business? Schreiber Foods, a customer-brand dairy company, was challenged with sourcing flexible films for the private brand market, hundreds of SKUs with quantities as small as a few rolls. In the early '90s, they decided to create Capri to better service their flexible packaging needs. Capri opened its doors in 1994 with a single press and has grown into two facilities, supplying Schreiber and many external customers in food and non-food markets.

• What is the key to growing a business in a bad economy? The key is providing outstanding service and exceptional quality. There are hundreds of converters with similar equipment to what Capri has, so the key to growing is being a supplier that customers trust as an extension of their business.

• How do you handle a difficult customer? Try to understand their perspective and work to find a solution. All companies have issues; the key to gaining loyal customers is how issues are handled. Difficult customers are an opportunity because if they are difficult for us, they are difficult for our competitors. If we understand their needs and can meet those, it will be difficult for them to leave.

• Any hobbies or interests? I help run a small non-profit organization, Project Self-Help & Awareness, which brings children from Mississippi to Wisconsin for a summer exchange program.

• What does your company do for your customers that makes them come back to enjoy the experience of doing business with you again? We service our external customers like we service our parent company — great quality with short lead times and jump through hoops when they need us to.

• What keeps you up at night with regard to your business? There are hundreds of converters who have the technology to do what we do, so there is no shortage of good competitors. We need to be better than the rest to sustain our business, and I consider service and quality to be the keys to that. I don't consider technology to be Capri's differentiator because what's cutting edge today is commonplace tomorrow.

• What sustainability efforts has your company made? We are on the journey to Zero Waste, eliminating any waste from our operations going to a landfill. Significant progress has been made in the past year; very little waste is now going to a landfill.

• What is your company's philosophy? Capri operates under the premise that packaging is an ingredient to food. The Big 5 of Food Safety — GMPs, Traffic Patterns, Infrastructure, Equipment Design, and Sanitation — reside at the core of our food safety philosophy.

About Capri Packaging

• 912 E. Nusbaum Pl., Clinton, MO 64735

• www.capripackaging.com

• Founded 1994, 2 plants, 180 employees

• Specialization | Narrow and wide web flexible film converting, printing, and laminating.

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