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Golden West Packaging Group

Golden West Packaging unleashes innovation

Revitalizing operations, boosting speeds, and paving
the way for a high-tech future with ePS Escada.

Golden West belt

About the company

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Golden West Packaging Group is one of North America's largest and fastest-growing independent manufacturers of custom packaging products. With a long history of high performance and innovation, it combines local touch with global reach to deliver packaging that helps its customers sell more products.

The company, formed around six years ago through the acquisition of Cal Sheets, operates as part of a partnership consortium. Golden West Packaging comprises around ten converting plants, with the Golden West Stockton site being the sole plant equipped with a corrugator, supplying various flutes to plants in Northern California and Washington state.

The challenge

The Stockton plant faced challenges with its existing but underutilized eProductivity Software (ePS) Escada corrugator control system. With the leadership of Darwin Featherstone, the Operations Manager, the company embarked on a strategic approach to re-awaken the system, improve the reliability of its corrugator, and address operational challenges.

“When I came on board at Cal Sheets (now Golden West Stockton), we attempted to update the Escada system; we discovered that many of our materials and hardware were obsolete. We proposed to corporate to purchase the new system to receive the benefits of better quality, faster run speeds, and more reliability.” Comments Darwin.

 

Key benefits
forward-fast ≈32% increase in corrugator run speeds - from 555 FPM to 730 FPM (average)
chart-bullet Reduced downtime - <10 minutes per shift
chart-scatter-bubble 20% increase in productivity
chart-mixed-up-circle-dollar Fast ROI in waste savings alone

The solution

Golden West Stockton adopted a two-pronged approach: fully utilizing the existing Escada system's capabilities and holding the OEM accountable for machine status. “The team from Escada came in prepared with a set of goals, ready to achieve them. We assisted with our maintenance team.”

“I was impressed with the professionalism and dedication from Escada’s install team – they were accommodating in explaining not only to my maintenance team but to the operators also.

It was a very structured communication, along the lines of: ‘Here’s what we found,’ ‘Here’s what the system can do for you,’ ‘Here’s how you take care of it,’ and above all ‘This is what needs to make it work.’ Our team appreciated it.”

“I’ve had a lot of experience with different systems and suppliers in my 37-year career in industry, and working with the Escada team was remarkably different – the preparation work before going live and the communication between our teams made it very smooth.

With other systems experiences, it would be more of a ‘we’ll put it in, here’s what we think you might need’ and this leads to a longer learning curve; we didn’t see that with Escada – we were prepared and supported allowing us to hit the ground running.”

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The results

The installation was a resounding success, highlighted by quick buy-in from the wider business teams and notable improvements in reliability and speed. The upgraded system facilitated running orders at higher speeds immediately after going live. 

"We had an agriculture job that typically would run that at about 550 - 560 feet a minute, and the day we went live, we ran that same order, 150 to 200 lineal feet a minute faster. That was one of the immediate takeaways, and we’ve seen our crews pushing the speeds ever since.”

“In addition to the increase in speed, we are now experiencing less than 10 minutes of downtime per shift. Before the upgrade, our bridge control wasn’t reliable, our sync splice was off, and we would experience many overruns that would lead to paper jams and stoppages. With the Escada system, we can now see the bridge control function and have dialed in our sync splice settings, which has been a success story.”

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“This combination of higher throughput coupled with reduced waste has meant that we have not worked a whole five-day week since the first full week of September (2023) – our MSF per corrugator hour has increased in less time – we’re running what we did in 5 days now in 4 – a 20% increase in productivity. There’s a big target on our sales teams to win more business and keep us busy!”

Darwin Featherstone
Operations Manager, Golden West Packaging Group

“I take every investment project methodically – within the next six months, I should be able to make up this investment cost in just waste savings alone. It’s a solid investment for us.”

The partnership approach with Escada yielded positive results based on clear communication and a dedication to success. The company envisions a quick return on investment through waste reduction and plans to explore additional technologies offered by Escada.

Darwin emphasizes the value of a partnership approach, consistency, and data-driven decision-making for future success:

“I've always worked with suppliers as a partnership; what I’ve experienced with ePS Escada is that we have a great partnership and consistent communication. We utilize facts and data to drive our decisions… if you can stay consistent and make logical decisions, anything’s possible.”

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The Future

Recognizing its niche focus, Golden West Stockton emphasizes a scientific approach to upgrades based on facts and data. The company aims to expand its customer base, especially in digital and higher-margin materials, while maintaining a service-driven model with quick turnaround times. Brand recognition is shifting towards "Golden West Stockton" to showcase the organization's capabilities beyond Cal Sheets. The company aims to position itself as a service-driven, technologically advanced leader in the industry.