Better Together: 2025 CorrExpo

At CorrExpo 2025 in Savannah, GA, more than 1000 industry pros gathered to "Explore What’s Possible and Build What’s Next." This recorded-on-site episode of Better Together includes three engaging mini-interviews that capture some of the engagement and excitement of being there in person. CorrExpo 2025 featured an active exhibit floor, memorable networking events, and an expert-led technical program.

In this episode, we'll be speaking with:

· Carl Mazzanti, Co-Founder and President of eMazzanti Technologies.

Carl and Jan discuss some of the amazing benefits AI can offer box makers

· Christine Little, director of sales/Corrugated Machinery Division, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Learn how innovative machines can help our industry manage workforce challenges.

· Jeff Buchanan, Director of Sales and Market Development, and Stephanie Falcone, Process Engineer, HarperLove.

Jeff and Stephanie tell Jan about an intern program that's making a difference for young engineers.

Click to read more about CorrExpo 2025 in Savannah—including CorrExpo LIVE! videos, event photos, Sponsor Showcase videos, and more.

SAVE THE DATE for TAPPI/AICC's Corrugated Week, September 28-30, 2026 in Fort Worth, TX. Sign up for updates so you won't miss this exciting event.

BIG NEWS: 

TAPPI is launching a NEW podcast series called Uptime! A Paper and Packaging Podcast, hosted by Jan Bottiglieri and Mark Rushton, editor of TAPPI's Tissue360° magazine. Uptime! will bring listeners 30-minute interviews with industry leaders and innovators that feature lively questions, thoughtful insights, and even a fun "lightning round" to keep guests on their toes. Better Together subscribers will automatically receive new Uptime! episodes so if you are not already subscribed, please do so—then share with colleagues, clients, and industry friends.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Welcome to Better Together. I'm Jan Bodilari, editor of Tappy's Paper 360 magazine, and I'm so glad you're here for our Core Expo 2025 episode of Better Together. You know, we started Better Together in 2020, during the pandemic lockdown, a time when Tappy members could not do their favorite thing, which is gather at conferences and events to share and grow their industry knowledge. We needed to find a new way to help members connect during that time to remind them that we really are better together. And through this forum, I've had the chance to talk to some amazing industry leaders. Today, these happy events are up and running and better than ever. So we're going to shift the focus of this podcast to exclusively sharing that live and in-person experience with listeners. As in today's episode, Better Together will continue to offer brief on-site interviews with paper and packaging folks as they attend Tappy events. Listeners will learn from a variety of perspectives as we try to capture some of that in-person engagement and excitement. And big news. We are also launching a new series called Uptime, a paper and packaging podcast, hosted by me along with Mark Rushton, the editor of Tappy's Tissue 360. Uptime will bring you 30-minute interviews with industry leaders. We will have lively questions, thoughtful insights, and even a fun lightning round to keep guests on their toes. We know you'll love it. The best part is, if you're already subscribed to Better Together, you'll automatically receive our new Uptime episodes as well. And if you're not subscribed, you should absolutely fix that. Then please share with colleagues, clients, and industry friends. Well, today we're going to Savannah, Georgia, where more than 1,000 industry pros gather to explore what's possible and build what's next at Core Expo 2025. This recorded on-site episode includes three engaging mini-interviews. First, I'll discuss the benefits of the AI with Carl Mazzanti of EMZante Technologies. Next, Christine Little of MHI tells us how innovative machines can help our industry manage workforce challenges. And finally, I speak with Jeff Buchanan and Stephanie Falcone from Harper Love, where an exciting intern program is helping young engineers. Let's get started. Tell me a little about what your presentation was like.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

The customer, you know, can't order the next set of boxes until they've paid for the first set of boxes, right? Just like a fun little thing that way. It's fair. Yeah, it is. They get chargebacks because uh images on a box uh show the thing was damaged in transit and sometimes pre-production runs.

SPEAKER_05 4:57

Um yeah, so they really are that customer feedback group, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Yep. Yeah, you're gonna need to pay for the boxes and everything from there to if something comes up uh and it somehow hits them financially, they're gonna find out about it. So that that department was next. The third one was um a combination between like logistics and um some of the production items, and that was images of the product before it went out. Um what we found that the customers is that they were getting uh chargebacks from deliveries, um, whether for misproduction or something taking place, and the sales reps were just siding with the customers always, which taught their customers to misbehave.

SPEAKER_05 5:44

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Yeah, if you complain, we accept whatever you want because I need you, customer. So we set up some systems that would take pictures, be easily submittable at the production line time, whether it was ready using the cameras that were in the building and then tying it to the production line or um taking cell phones or something that they already had on them to take a picture uh at the time of production, it cut it cut in half the number of customer inquiries. And then the second thing that took place is sales went up.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Really?

SPEAKER_02 6:21

When I said that comment that people were complaining about some of the boxes and they were taught to be just complainers, once they knew that they had imagery of the final product and how it was going out, um, it was difficult for them to say that was their problem. And what was happening was they were being given the production run for free. And then they were reproducing it, which reduced the amount that it wasn't like food. You know, if you go to a restaurant, they take the food away from you, you don't consume it. Well, if the boxes already went out and they didn't come back and they could use some of them, that was reducing their future order. Oh shit, so you were subsidizing the customer, so subsidizing your own drop in sales. Your own drop in sales, and you were eating all the expense. Wow. That's really the kiss of death. Um so for a lot of our manufacturers are really interested in waste reduction and they're really interested in uh what's the uptime of the machines. So data collection, making decisions, and trying to put it in a way that they can make decisions. And then now there's such difficulty in finding labor and labor at a cost that you can actually afford.

SPEAKER_05 7:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

So if we could uh limit down the number of people you need and then can you control some of the waste and production uptime, they just fall in love with us, you know?

SPEAKER_05 7:43

So, Carl, AI can help corrugators do all of that. Yes, is what you're saying.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Absolutely. We've we've we showed a bunch of the case studies uh this week. Um I talked about that first um session, which was me with Fosber and some of the other manufacturers up, and then for myself, EMS Ante Technologies is a computer consulting company uh focused on manufacturing with a well say is a corrugator problem. You know what I mean? Like uh we just uh we just love them so much. But my second session was uh all about a case study. We had um uh two customers are here, uh well actually three. Uh supply one, uh Bell Container out of Newark, New Jersey, and then uh Atlas container out of Severn um Maryland. But they have actually have two plants now. Um uh Pilmer being the second one, or Pilmin being the second one. So we are showing some of the success at each of those uh plants and what had been working. Um, you know, I'd be happy to share the deck with anyone that wanted to. You know, my email. Oh, boy. Wow. I do that, sure. I'm happy to do it.

SPEAKER_05 8:49

Um yeah, he's at carl at mazanti.net. I'm gonna drop that in the description so you can hit him up for that. Um that's great. Thank you for that.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

For sure, of course. We just want him that's why we do some of the thought leadership items. Just it's their idea and and we're happy to help him achieve it.

SPEAKER_05 9:08

Well, I don't mind listeners, so we talked a little offline about hopefully getting some of this intelligence into Paper 360 in our core focus section. So I'm looking forward to that. Um, Carl, what do you think of the show overall?

SPEAKER_02 9:21

It's a great it's a great way to have a whole bunch of customers in the same spot at the same time. Yeah. Espe especially for us. I mean, there's 480 corrugators out there in the United States. So to try and visit all those plants, and then geographically they're far away from each other because yeah, you're gonna start competing uh with each other if you're too if you're too close. And but you and then you need to be close to your customer because the cost of transportation and logistics. So um, while I try and hit as many of the plants as I possibly can, so like I'm going to Canada um next week, you know, it's or Ontario specifically, it's um it's difficult to visit everyone. You know, um I've been real thankful that we have things like FaceTime and Microsoft Teams and video because they can show me what's happening, and then we can, you know, I can go for a walk with them around the plant and say, um, hey, you know, your clam truck there looks like that guy's sleeping. Because if you can look at the roll, that's like one of the funniest things to see at a plant is the clam truck operator does two things. They first they stack all the rolls really high, and then they break the camera. You know, they run the truck through, and then they break the camera so it's not watching them. Then they pick up a bunch of rolls, and then they they back in with the roll in the clam, so it looks like there's nothing there, and then they're sleeping. Or they're playing the game.

SPEAKER_05 10:46

Carl, what you're telling me is don't do that.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Don't do that whatsoever. No, you know.

SPEAKER_05 10:52

Well, you know, you're talking about the these crazy things, but also it gets back to safety. Yeah. Right? And that's something else that AI can help you with, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Well, we uh, you know, I I had I hadn't expected this, but um there are so many slip and fall or type of issues that take place in the plant. So we've been uh overlaying a software package that uh takes all the cameras and feeds them in so that you can now spot, have the specific sessions of interest. Wow. So I'll take uh Atlas in this case. Um, you know, that the rooms used to be called traffic and and they were or production, everyone's got their kind of their own name for it. Um typically what it was was just a wall of cameras that gave the the heart of what was taking place in the plant. You could see if things were getting backed up over here, or maybe you could slip through another order because the customer called you and really wanted to see it through. So the cameras were so important that they would watch and they'd have an idea of what was taking place in the plant, and then they could do um production optimization through through uh through the plant, you know, keep the keep an eye on quality the footage, the foot, the amount of linear feet coming out, or however they're measuring uh the production uh for the day. Well, we overlaid AI to essentially do what that person was doing for the job, to say, like, hey, we have this machine idle, but there's no one repairing it. And here's our backlog orders, and I've got I know I have staff that can do it, and now you can push through production to get the line going.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

Um and so the software would alert, like, hey, this is the possibility, let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Well, they're either turning the camera red or green because there's activity inside of the location, but uh it brings attention to the spots that you need. Um gone is the day of you know, before if someone slipped or there was an injury that took place in one spot, it you would select it in the camera and you press F3 and you'd have to go through each of the moments where there was motion there until you found it. But now you could show a picture of the person's face, and if you wanted to, you could track where that person went through the entire plant just because you text across all the different camera feeds.

SPEAKER_05 13:13

Wow. It's a little scary, but also in a work environment, I think that's what we are going to need to be accepting of. Yeah. Because it it does help safety, it does help quality control. Um, and there really is a lot more that I think AI could be doing for corrugators as they become more comfortable with the technology.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

It's reducing the repetitive, redundant tasks that don't offer any value. Right. If you can remove the repetitive items that offer little value to a customer, that'll just make you more efficient, and maybe you can be a little more price competitive and knock out some of those other 480.

SPEAKER_05 13:52

Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_02 13:53

Because you're the best.

SPEAKER_05 13:54

Well, um, let me ask you this. You you smile every time you mention corrugated customers. Yeah. So what do you love most about the corrugated industry?

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Well, um, I come from a family of manufacturers. My um uh grandfather came to the United States during uh World War One and opened up uh Xan Optics, a optical manufacturer. So manufacturers have been in our family now for three generations. I'm the only one that doesn't uh work in the plant. I work on the plants. It's a very different approach. Uh I've spent enough time sweating during the summers where there's no air conditioning or freezing because there was no heaters in the plant.

SPEAKER_05 14:39

Uh Sunday dinner come, do they make you eat in the kitchen or they let you eat at the table still?

SPEAKER_02 14:44

Um I don't have the kids' table because I have my own generation behind me. But um manufacturing's been in the blood. Um everyone needs a box. So uh while we support lots of manufacturers, um while we support lots of manufacturers, um I always used boxes as the way to know how the economy was going.

SPEAKER_04 15:07

Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

So if our our uh box manufacturers are running three shifts and on Saturdays and Sundays just to try and keep up, I know the economy's gonna do really well because there's a there's a shipment that's gonna take place with each one of those boxes. When they start to scale back and they reduce some shifts and they're not working on the weekends anymore, you go from three to two or one. Um we got some real problems coming up. Um anyway, and and they're they're just great people. I mean, I I get the fact Tappy's been around for 110 years, it's still a box. Yeah, right? It's still a box, it goes through the box.

SPEAKER_03 15:42

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

But um, there are better ways to make the box and to reduce waste and keep the uptime going, and also make it really easy for a customer to get their design and and items into production in any way they want. So I think that's what Eam Zante Technologies offers to our customers, and one of the reasons why we're here today.

SPEAKER_05 16:03

That's awesome. Carl, thank you so much for talking to me. I really enjoyed our conversation today, and I learned a lot.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Yeah, thank you, Jan, for having me.

SPEAKER_05 16:16

And I'm at Core Expo, and I'm speaking with Christine Little. She's director of sales for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and we've been chatting a little, and she has a bunch of stuff to share about what MHI is doing in North America. Welcome, Christine. Thank you as always. Yay! Yeah, you've been on the podcast before, and we always have so much fun chatting with each other.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

So we do, we do. Right? Yep.

SPEAKER_05 16:42

So I I hope hope you all out there have as much fun listening. It's been a really interesting show so far.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

It has been. It has been. Yeah. Uh Savannah is a fantastic venue to have the show. And as you know, it seems to be a lot of participation, a lot of good booze. I've been walking around.

SPEAKER_05 17:02

Yeah, registration's been great. The show floor's been busy, and as always, I you know, I walk on the show floor for the first time and it's like, love the smell of machinery in the morning.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

Got incorrugated, right?

SPEAKER_05 17:15

Right? It's exciting. It's exciting. So tell me a little bit about what MHI is planning for North America. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

Um, well, this year, as a lot of listeners may know, um, MHI used to uh sell corrugators in North America. We have never stopped selling. We never really stopped. Yeah. It was more um focused uh worldwide than in North America. And over the last few years, we have been increasing our service department, our parts uh service programs. And uh we are proud to say we are back in the corrugator market. Sweet. Yes, yes. That's exciting. Very exciting. Um, you know, I think the success of the evol distracted us a little bit. And we were being asked a lot by customers, you know, why why aren't you producing corrugators? We love MHI single facers. And so I think we we did the listening and decided, you know, we're selling it the rest of the world. Why don't we come back and start selling them again in North America? Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_05 18:25

No, well, that's great. That's how you have to go. And the evil really is something to be excited about. It's it's some cool new technology, but um, you have a great installed base here in North America. So you'll be able to, uh, you know, are you planning to expand service there?

SPEAKER_03 18:43

So, you know, service, um all of our guys travel across the country. Um whether it's a corrugator, you know, we do have a dedicated uh service team for corrugators and then the ones for the evol. But um, you know, they travel across the country from a parts standpoint. We've got the two locations. So now we're, you know, trying to hone in on our service programs a little bit more. What do the customers need? I I mean I say this every year too. What do the customers need? What uh, you know, what kind of programs do you want us to do? Similar to what we did for the evol. I mean, it's all about the feedback or the comments that the customers made. The same thing is going to be said for, you know, our service programs for Corrugator.

SPEAKER_05 19:30

Okay. Okay. Well, now this might be a little hard question, a little bit of a hard question. Um, you know, we already have machines in the sky. We already have machinery producers in North America who who provide a lot of great technology. Why what do you think MHI is bringing to the table? What what do you think s really sets you apart?

SPEAKER_03 19:54

Um you know, if I look at MHI as a company that produces machinery for the corrugated industry, um, I think that, you know, we're bringing, as you mentioned, the technology, but as well as um innovation, um, you know, we're always looking forward. Uh whether that is, you know, if we take the dual slaughter, that was innovative. That was nobody had that. Um, so we're looking at the industry and what the need will be. We all know labor, you know, so yeah, it's always a big question. Trying to address that situation. Preventative maintenance, we're addressing that with AI, we're exploring it. Um everything that Japan is looking at right now is geared towards the issues that we all know exist and what we can do with our machinery to help out our box customers.

SPEAKER_05 20:54

Yeah, that's a really interesting point, I think, because you know, when when folks leave a company and take that brain trust with with them, when it, you know, it becomes harder and harder to find those young people, our first thought is always, well, how do we hire more? Right? How do we hire more? But that's not the only way it's not to solve um um, you know, a man hours crisis. So what what are some of the features you think um of the machinery that are helping helping box plants do that?

SPEAKER_03 21:30

You know, making the machine smarter. Um we kind of laugh about what smartphones and smart TVs and everything did to change everyday lives. Why can't we do the same thing with smart machinery? Um what is the next thing that we can do? Whether it's a machine that uh adjusts itself, it sees there's a problem and it corrects itself corrects itself. Um anything. That is more one button, you know, memory of a past order, or um, you know, I know the customer has case erecting equipment and it it's gonna produce the box to do that. Why can't we expect that? Why can't we have that be the space? We need to think outside the box, and I know that sounds cheesy, and I'm really sorry.

SPEAKER_05 22:24

But um believe it or not, that is the first time I have heard that phrase. This no, it had it's not definitely not the first time I've heard that phrase. Yes. Um but it's true though, right? It's true. And I love that idea of the technologies that enable our personal lives, you know, should also be enabling our work lives.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

I agree. Yeah, I agree. And why why shouldn't we start creating that or doing something to get to that next? I mean, we have some of the you know smartest people in this room, you know, at your expo. And why not create the smart machinery? Yeah, to keep up. Robotics is doing it. We I mean there will that I think is some of the stuff that we need to think about. What's the next generation or or all these seminars that we're going to for AI, they're fantastic. Yeah, I heard but we're doing a lot of talking. We need to start like implementing.

SPEAKER_05 23:25

I love that. Because I I heard that the um session this morning that we had here at Core Expo about AI, cybersecurity, I heard that was standing room only. What? Yeah, it was packed. It was packed because it's exactly what you're saying, right? And I think you you make another good point. So the next generation of, you know, not only workers on the floor, on the production floor, but also management, engineering, all these are kids who have grown up expecting that kind of technology to work for them. Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:03

For sure. I mean, none of them they're they have grown up with a phone. Yeah. It's always been a smartphone. It's never been your little, you know, push button um kind of phone. But all of them are expecting it to be a smart piece of equipment. Otherwise, where are we gonna they're they're not gonna go in the plants.

SPEAKER_05 24:26

Right. Yeah. And when we can show them that that technology that you enjoy using now, you'll be using at work. And we need you to be able to use it well, and we need you to bring your intelligence to the machine intelligence.

SPEAKER_03 24:39

And but you know, help move us forward, you know, help uh step it up. But it's not your grandparents' uh plant anymore, right?

SPEAKER_05 24:48

Right. And it used to like it for many of these families, it used to literally be your grandparents' plant. Right. Yep. There there are a lot in I find that more so in the corrugated arena than although this this is changing as well. There's still a lot of um um fragmentation. There's still a lot of these really small shops, yeah, and then there's these giant shops. Yep, right. And I think we have to kind of bring the technology to help those small shops be on par with those giant shops because there's there's room for all.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

I agree. I agree a hundred percent. Um, you know, some of just because they are smaller, um independent mom and pop doesn't mean they don't need our help as well.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 25:38

Uh probably more so.

SPEAKER_05 25:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:39

Resources are a little bit different, they don't have that endless resource pool that they can draw from.

SPEAKER_05 25:46

So Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Let me ask you this. I because I know and you've said this already on this episode, you really try to keep keep that, you know, finger on the pulse of what the customer wants. You keep your I hope. You keep your ears open, you keep those communication lines open. Is there something that customers have been asking you for that you can't do yet, but that you really, really plan on doing someday, or really hope you can fill that need someday?

SPEAKER_03 26:16

Wow, that's a really hard question. Right? I mean, you know, I I think if you asked every single customer, whether they were small or large or whatever, um, they just want help with keeping costs down, help with the labor shortage, um, develop something that will help them but not affect their bottom line. And I hope someday, I really do, that we're able to solve some of that. I'm not gonna say all of it because I don't think anybody, but you know, one thing MHI is super proud of is when the Evolve came out, it was innovative. And I want us to always be that way, always questioning. I just hope that, you know, five years from now, I'm saying, yeah, we did it. That's gonna be awesome. Well, I hope you'll come back on the podcast and this is my favorite.

SPEAKER_05 27:16

Well, thank you so much for talking to Better Together. It's been great to see you again. And we're back on the floor at Core Expo 25 in Savannah. I'm here with Jeff Buchanan, he's director of sales and market development for Harper Love. How are you today, Jeff?

SPEAKER_01 27:35

I'm doing good, Jan. How are you?

SPEAKER_05 27:37

I'm doing great. How's the show going for you?

SPEAKER_01 27:39

It's good. It's uh busy week, it's lots of preparation, and then it all kind of comes, you know, culminates in uh in a couple of really busy days, but it's it's been a great show.

SPEAKER_05 27:48

Great. And what are you showcasing at your booth this year?

SPEAKER_01 27:52

So we're showcasing our booth, first of all. Our booth is made 100% of corrugated board. We uh we partnered with one of our customers, and we actually have them make the entire boy entire booth. So everything in the booth is made of corrugated. Um, it's really creative, it's it's all about art, and uh it's we spent all day on uh Monday putting it together. It's uh it's a big puzzle. Um so we we had a lot of fun with it. It was fun though, right? It really was a lot of fun. It it was it was a long day, but it was a lot of fun and love for people to stop by and take a look at it or check our pictures out online. It's it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_05 28:26

I love that. Yeah, check out those pictures because I think this is something you started last year, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:32

We did. Yeah. Well, I guess back it up a little bit. Our first first time we ever did it was in Latin America.

SPEAKER_04 28:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

And then we we liked it so well that we we brought it to Supercore and then we brought it back again this year. So that's definitely featuring that as the booth. Uh we plenty of products we're featuring too. We've got uh new products, uh, it's a combination product of board lock, which is kind of giving your board the maximum strength, and then LiquidGel BC, which is a caustic borax combination replacement product, but it's a lot more than just that. We can let you tell you more about that. Okay, and then another partnership we've got is ESO Ultra, which is an enzyme-based cleaning product that is used to clean starch off of your corrugator. And we're we're super excited about what that's doing in the industry.

SPEAKER_05 29:15

Terrific. Yeah, I love the Corrugator booth. And when you walk into Core Expo, you see the sign that says Building the Future. And I think building new things out of Corrugated is what it's all about. It's a great material. Sure. Um, so you do adhesives, cleaners?

SPEAKER_01 29:33

We do primarily adhesives for corrugated. Uh, we also have some ancillary products for lack of a better term. Uh, you know, that's your deformers, your biocides, your cleaning products, those type of of other additives that that a corrugator might need to be able to run officially.

SPEAKER_05 29:49

Right. That's cool. That's cool. So um how has the show been busy for you?

SPEAKER_01 29:54

The show's been good. Uh yesterday was was good and it built as the day went along. I think uh that was Tuesday, so today, Wednesday, I think will be another good day. And I I think we'll have uh you know people that were just coming in yesterday at the end of the day, I think will be here for the full day today. So yeah, great show, always a good show.

SPEAKER_05 30:10

Yeah, and we had a great um we had a great um registration. So the the floor's been busy, the sessions have been busy, um, and we've been talking a lot about some of the big issues in Corrugated. Um we have our Tappy Safe uh table over there, safety's one, but another big issue in Corrugated right now has been employee attraction, employee retention, and I understand Harper Love's been doing a lot about that as well.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

We we are that's uh uh been a challenge for everybody uh from the corrugators to the suppliers, uh, you know, everybody that that touches this industry, but really any industry has to has to deal with this as a challenge. Uh Harper Love, we have a uh a great team that uh has a ton of experience, and we found over the last couple of years that we we need to continually bring in people keep bringing people into the organization. And one of the ways we did that is through an internship program where we brought people into the into the company, you know, work in our in our office, learn a little bit about the company, and then that turns in hopefully if if things go well to a permanent employment. Right. And then then with that permanent employment kind of goes into a training program. The training program uh is we really we take the the person that that enters the program, show them the whole company, you know, give them six months or a year in several different stations, and then see where they fit best. So we've Oh I like that. We've got that going, it's going really well, and we're we're just really excited about uh what that's gonna deliver for us.

SPEAKER_05 31:47

So not only is it sort of an entrance into the company, but you really give folks a chance to look around and see what fits them.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

Yeah, it's you know, it's the whole right seat on the bus concept. Yeah, get them on the bus first and get them in the right seat, and and that's that's really what this is all about. And you know, and it was we bring people in, we may find that they're a great fit for the factory, but not so much on the commercial side, or we might find uh find a good engineer that uh that really has a commercial way about them. So that's kind of why we're here today.

SPEAKER_05 32:15

So that's terrific. Yeah. If only I could get another perspective on this training program. If only there was a way to get another pers Wait a minute.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yeah, and I'm really happy to stop talking now and uh pass the microphone.

SPEAKER_05 32:32

Yeah, so now I'd like to introduce Stephanie Falcone, she's a process engineer. And Stephanie, you've been part of this training program at Harper Love. What's that been like for you?

SPEAKER_00 32:43

Yeah, so uh it kind of started um during my internship, uh going into my senior year of college. I went to NC State University as a chemical engineer. Yeah, GoPat. I heard that. GoPat. Um, and I was just asking some friends around about uh internships that they've had, and one of my friends had an internship at Harper Love, and she couldn't say enough good things about it. She said, you know, reach out, they're the wonderful. I learned so much. Like she would even um like want to like work there. She just loved it. And I reached out and I went for the interview, and I was this is my first time in manufacturing, and it was just incredible to see all the machinery. And um, I was, yeah, I was really happy to um get that internship. And as soon as I started, I was amazed by how kind and welcoming everyone was and just so willing to teach me. Um, I had so many projects that range from research in the lab to process optimization and also working on lots of different safety things. And it was just such a broad spectrum of projects, and everyone would take the time to stop, teach me something, and just even multiple different areas. So um I just I love learning and because I was able to learn so much in there, and I was very happy to uh be able to come on full time and that learning has just exponentially grown um because I've also been able to get back in the lab and also do those process improvements, um, doing capital projects and have kind of transitioned over to more of the marketing commercial side, and I've been really loving it there.

SPEAKER_05 34:21

That's awesome. Well, I love your enthusiasm, and I love the variety of the opportunities that Harper Love offered you.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Yeah, it's it's incredible. Um I you know, I just like I said, I love learning and learning uh new things and the just sheer amount of things um I've been able to uh to get familiar with and kind of find out what I really like to do. Um and I think right now it's the kind of the sales and uh commercial side. So Really? Okay.

SPEAKER_05 34:50

Well, I I think it's always a real benefit when the sales folks in our vendor community have had a lot of experience in different areas, right? Um so you've been able to meet clients on past projects, right?

SPEAKER_00 35:06

Yeah, I've actually been able to go out to our customer sites um with our field team, and they have just an immense uh amount of knowledge just from being in the industry, and they're so eager and willing to share that with me and to kind of get me on some like kind of wrench work, hands-on, and yeah, um it's great. And uh getting to familiarize myself with that and kind of what um our customers are seeing every day, so that when I'm back at the office or I'm just uh in other parts of the field, I can really help and support them the best I can.

SPEAKER_05 35:38

That's terrific, and I think that's really what we need out of our training programs, whether at a a mill or a converting plant, a corrugator. We need someone to be willing to share that information with you and tap into that enthusiasm enthusiasm and curiosity. What are some of your favorite projects that you've worked on so far?

SPEAKER_00 35:59

Ooh, that's that's a tough one. Um my favorite projects I really like. Uh one of the projects that I've worked on was creating product data sheets and case studies. So I got to kind of blend that creativity in helping design them as well as uh the creating the um the literature and the kind of how I want to tell that story and how to uh get kind of best capture uh what we do. So I really like that. Um and also I helped uh over at the plant in ordering um and sizing and getting an air compressor for our production team. Oh wow. That was really cool getting to be there from you know meeting with vendors and uh trying to get the best price and to the installation and working with maintenance. So I was really cool to like projects like that, you know, you know, you don't really um I wasn't really expecting, you know, fresh out of college to be able to have my hands on so many different uh departments and so many different areas. And I'm just so fortunate to be able to, yeah, I was working on ordering an air, helping order an air compressor, and now I've you know help uh with the safety documentation and then oh, I'm going to a customer site and working on marketing. It's just incredible.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Oh I'll add Jan, I had uh was getting some feedback from some of the the field team when Stephanie was traveling and uh you know I said, Hey, how's how's Stephanie doing? Is she you know having enjoying herself and learning a lot? And one of our our 40-year veterans said uh, you know, she is an absolute sponge. She said, I've or this guy said who which one of the Harper love traits is we all like to be teachers. That's that's kind of what we do. And and this this gentleman said, uh, she's an absolute sponge. I've never met anybody that I can't teach fast enough.

SPEAKER_04 37:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

Because I I teach her one time and she's got it and she takes it. And well, it gives really cool feedback from from somebody that's not easy to get feedback from.

SPEAKER_05 37:56

So I think that's wonderful. I think attitude really does have a lot to do with it. When you come in with that attitude of curiosity, that willingness to learn. But you know, Stephanie, you talked about the welcome you received at Harper Love.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

Do you think that has something to do with your enthusiasm? Oh, 100%. Well, just uh as a person, I'm very curious and I like to learn things, and just coupled with people who are very eager and want to teach you who are also enthusiastic about what they do, it's just the perfect culture, perfect environment for that. And that kind of um has helped me to, you know, even be more excited about it.

SPEAKER_05 38:36

I love that. I love that. Let me ask Jeff one question about the training program, and that is for anyone listening, thinking that wow, our company could really use something like this. We really need to start a program like this. Where should they start? What do you think is a good, you know, sort of beginning plan if you want to put into place a training program like this?

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Yeah, great, great question. So I'm an NC State alum. Uh Stephanie mentioned NC State earlier. Go back. Um so I've always been involved with the university. You know, I I'm part of the came out of the pulp and paper program there, the chemical engineering pulp and paper program. So I I kind of know the learning base that that they came from. So I kind of knew where Stephanie was starting. Um taking that into the rest of the organization, we we really go out and look for people. You you hit it several times with curiosity. You know, Harper Love is a fantastic place to work, it's it's a it's a destination employment, and and it's just a just a wonderful place to be, uh, people-wise, product-wise, you know, where we are in the industry. And so we look for people with a curiosity and an excitement to be on the team. And then really from there, it's it's all about the teaching. And uh, you know, we don't uh we don't throw people out there right from day one. Uh we're we're very uh very I guess cautious isn't the right word, but we're we we take selective we're selective, we're we're very uh very careful to make sure that we we don't you know push out of the nest until they're ready to fly, kind of thing. Right. And and uh can't think of a better way to put that. But uh it's really all about the training, the teaching, the curiosity, the you know, learning harper love, and then uh and then getting out there and going to work.

SPEAKER_05 40:21

Sure. So start with the connection to the schools?

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Is school well the schools or the industry, depending on the the you know, again, it's it's kind of getting the right person or get them on the bus then find the right seat for them. But it it's about um it's whether it's the university person or whether it's uh someone from the industry or or in some cases someone from an allied industry that's got a capacity to learn it. It really comes down to capacity to learn and and curiosity.

SPEAKER_05 40:48

Great, great. And you have to have that mentorship mentality within the your own company to make it work, I would think.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 40:57

And you know, Stephanie, I'm gonna come back to you for um for a question, and that is young people coming up in our industry um at the schools NC State, but some of our other uh great paper schools that we have around the country, what would you tell them when they're getting ready to look for an internship? What's a good thing to look for?

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Um Yeah, definitely. Um something uh to look for is uh a great team. And I think that was the most important thing and making sure that you're gonna be learning something. Because what was great too is my projects, they weren't um it was they weren't super industry specific. They were just great skills that I could take anywhere. Um and I took them back to Hard for Love. Um, but that was just so incredible. They really uh cared about my career and just my development. And so I think that's very important to look for that to make sure um, you know, that you're helping the company, of course. Um, but you know, you're also learning and gaining a lot of experience for that from that.

SPEAKER_05 42:01

I love that. So where do you hope to go in your career?

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Um, well, just can keep learning as much as I can and uh definitely work my way into a leadership position because that's something um I love to do. I've you know, I've been like captain for different sports teams um, you know, in college. So I love um leading and teaching people to help them to become, you know, the best version of themselves and to collectively make uh get wins. Um so that's something that I could see myself doing. Not sure exactly in what um area, but definitely leadership.

SPEAKER_05 42:33

Um terrific. Oh my gosh. Well, we are really happy to have you in the corrugated industry. Oh well, it's great to be here. And I hope you stick around because that's exactly the enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge that Tappy is all about. Jeff and Stephanie, thank you so much. I've really enjoyed our conversation. Thank you so much for having us. Thanks, Jan. It's great. I had a great time in Savannah at Core Expo 2025. And I want to thank my guests, Carl, Christine, Jeff, and Stephanie. Listening to Stephanie's enthusiasm for learning about our industry really gives me a great feeling about the future of packaging and paper. Well, I'll be back in 2026 with more recorded on-site episodes of Better Together. So I hope you will continue listening. And don't forget to subscribe today so you won't miss a single episode of Uptime, our new paper and packaging podcast, which will be launching in April 2026 at TappyCon. Well, I'm Jan Bottelary, editor of Tappy's Paper360 magazine, and I hope to see you at a future Tappy Conference or event, and maybe even get you to put the headphones on for a quick chat. Until then, thanks for listening. And remember, we really are better together.