| Rusken Packaging, Inc.
toured by Chamber
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Cullman's Rusken Packaging, Inc. is a perfect example of the old
saying "do one thing and do it well." Rusken specializes in the manufacture of corrugated shipping containers, or as General Manager, President and CEO Greg Rusk stated during a recent Chamber of Commerce Existing Industry Tour, "We make boxes." "It's not a glamorous business, but it's necessary," Rusk told the tour group. "If you eat it or wear it, it came in a box." Rusk's modesty concerning his profession aside, the logic of his plainspoken statement rings true. Almost every product imaginable is shipped inside a corrugated shipping container, and with Rusken's Cullman plant producing over 300,000 boxes per day for shipment to some 3,000 customers in the southeast United States, chances are very good that many of those widely varied products were shipped in a container manufactured by Rusken. |
 Rusken General Manager, President and CEO Greg Rusk displays some of the many specialty containers manufactured at the Cullman facility. |
| "We compete with 23 companies directly in the southeast," Rusk said. "But we are the largest independent in the southeast at what we do. There's a lot of competition, but there are many niches in our business." | |||
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Rusken manages to fill quite a few niches as the 207,000 square-foot
manufacturing facility is capable of drawing upon a database of over
20,000 different sets of specifications: everything from the smallest
square box to a large hexagonal specialty container can be designed and
mass produced at the Cullman facility. According to company officials,
this gives them the flexibility to offer a wide ranger of products not
generally available through any single manufacturer. Now one of the largest operations of its kind worldwide, the family-owned company started out in 1974 and was founded by Bobby Rusk, Greg Rusk's father. The company moved into a 150,000 square-foot facility in Cullman in 1996 and has grown considerably since, now employing over 275 workers in its operation. Although headquartered in Cullman, Rusken also has warehouses and sales offices in Dothan, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; Tupelo, Mississippi; and Dayton, Tennessee. |
 Jason Bailey, in blue, demonstrates the automatic sample cutting table for the Chamber tour group. |
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| Rusken's Cullman operation totals over 450,000 square feet, including warehouses, and boasts a dedicated fleet of 30 tractors and 175 trailers which cover in excess of 60,000 miles per week. Between 60 and 70 truckloads of boxes leave the Cullman manufacturer each day. | |||
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The product flow at Rusken moves quickly as large sheets of corrugated
material enter the plant and are cut to specification by flat bed and
rotary die cutters, and are modified by large folding and gluing machines
before being pressed, labeled, laminated and bundled into large pallets
ready for shipment. Two computer-aided design systems with automatic
cutting tables enable the company's design team to implement sample
containers from specifications and put the boxes into production.
Shrink-wrapping, press seal and latex, partitioning, stitching and taping
are also handled in the Cullman facility. For more information on Rusken Packaging, Inc., visit www.rusken.com or contact Rusken at P.O. Box 2100, Cullman, AL, 35056-2100, via email at rusken@rusken.com or call (256) 734-0092. |
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 A Rusken employee readies a stack of corrugated shipping containers for shipment. |
 Jill Burke of the Chamber of Commerce speaks with Rusken, Inc. controller Tim Rabon. |
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 Cullman County Economic Development's Allie Owens, at right, is among the Chamber group members that were led on a tour of the Cullman plant by Joey Jackson, Rusken's sales manager (foreground, right). |
 Greg Rusk and Eva Bank's Mike Duke examine one of the large automatic box presses inside the Cullman manufacturing facility. |
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 Hanceville Mayor Bobby Brown was among those present for the tour of Rusken Packaging. |
 Cullman County School Superintendent Jan Farley tours the plant floor of Rusken's Cullman plant. |
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