Newtown’s Rand-Whitney General Manager Named VP

By John Voket

Newly promoted Vice President Richard “Dick” Minton looked around the crowded break room at Newtown’s Rand-Whitney plant on Edmond Road during a recent gathering to celebrate his promotion and asked a question.

“How many of you here ever worked for a box plant that never closed?”

Only a few hands went up among the 70–80 employees.

“Well, today, we are one of three Connecticut box plants left,” Mr Minton said. “And when I came to work here there were five.”

His observation, and the question the new VP posed to his employees, were meant to illustrate that the Newtown Rand-Whitney plant is doing something right. And thanks to his leadership, the company rewarded its former Newtown general manager with a promotion to vice president of its container division earlier this month.

Company President Nick Smith told The Newtown Bee that Mr Minton’s decade of leadership in Newtown has solidified a team that is “among the best in our industry.”

“Dick’s efforts have positioned Rand-Whitney’s Container Division for continued growth and success,” Mr Smith said following the brief testimonial at the plant. “He is certainly one of the key leaders of our company.”

Mr Smith said that his new VP demonstrated his dedication to the company and the industry by “turning the Newtown plant into one of the leading operations in our marketplace.”

“The Kraft family and I are extremely appreciative of Dick and the great work he and his team are doing in Newtown,” Mr Smith said of himself and the food industry executives who own the company.

The Rand-Whitney Group traces its origin to 1857. In that year, Elvira F. Dodge started a company making folding cartons in her home in Leominster, Mass. In 1938, Whitney Box of Worcester, Mass,. acquired Dodge Paper Box, forming the modern company. The combined entity was named Rand-Whitney.

Throughout its history, the company has strived to foster a family atmosphere, encouraging employees to bring family members into the company. As a result, several generations of families are employed.

During the 1970s and 80s the Kraft family dramatically increased the size of the company through the introduction of innovative products, the acquisition of strategically related companies, and an expanded sales effort.

In 1972, Rand-Whitney pioneered high quality litho-laminate packaging in the United States. The company is recognized as the industry leader in the E and B flute business, which combines the graphic excellence of lithography with the strength and protection of corrugated.

In the 1970s, Rand-Whitney also perfected the technique of combining various coatings to improve the gloss, rub resistance and “cosmetic” feel of packages. International Forest Product’s (IFP) start-up in 1972 assisted the expansion of Rand-Whitney’s sales effort from a regional focus to one of international scope.

Today, Rand-Whitney and IFP ship to every major continent in the world, and the company produces and ships corrugated displays, shipping containers, and folding cartons to a variety of industrial and consumer end-users.

Some of these end-users include manufacturers of consumer electronics, cosmetics, computer hardware and software, communications products, photography, appliances, toiletries, automotive products, giftware, lighting, toys and games.

Newtown facility manager Lee Ferris recalls when he was hired by Mr Minton, who chose the Virginian over a host of candidates who were under consideration from the region.

“Dick just fosters great rapport among our workforce here,” Mr Ferris said. “He’s very approachable, honors his open door policy, and he supports the team and our managers with an outstanding knowledge of our market, the intricacies of our business, and the financial operations of this type of operation.”

During the recent testimonial, Mr Minton thanked his staff for their dedication and professionalism.

“We didn’t get any smarter, we just had better opportunities,” he said. “We always had a superior work force, but we also enjoyed minimal interference from the home office.”

Mr Minton said that once he was installed as the general manager in Newtown, the bosses didn’t come back, “because we kept showing improvement month after month — year after year. We make it work!”