FBA Blog

Letter from FBA Chairman Bob Landaal

It has been a pleasure and an honor to serve as Fibre Box Association (FBA) Chairman for the past year. For me, it is a duty I have not taken lightly given the history of my family’s involvement with the association. My great grandfather was a past FBA Chairman. My grandfather, along with Mr. Shine, had the foresight to gather their peer group into what would become the FBA Independent Sheet Plant Workshop. My Uncle Steve served on the FBA Board of Directors, and I attended my first meeting 18 years ago. I am the 4th generation of my family to be involved in FBA and I can’t begin to tell you how much it has meant to me.

From my first FBA meeting, until now it has been my privilege to learn from and to serve with some of the greatest minds in our industry. I have learned so much and I have forged so many great friendships and relationships by being involved with FBA. It is truly immeasurable the amount of knowledge and success in the room when you attend an FBA meeting of any kind.

This past year, I had the opportunity to reflect on the benefits FBA provides to its members and to lead the association though a strategic evaluation. The work we did as Board members and as the Board’s Executive Committee will help forge FBA’s path forward for the next several years.

In this past year alone, FBA has:

  • Transitioned from monthly to quarterly reporting of industry statistics and created a new monthly Box Segment Demand Indicators Report. The report contains macroeconomic and market segment data summarized and illustrated in graphs with accompanying bullet point information. Data is sourced from the latest government resources and compiled to keep you informed about the drivers of demand for box shipments between quarterly statistical reports.
  • Completed Year 5 of the Corrugated Industry Promotion Program and launched a new three-year commitment to the program with support from our industry supplier partners.
  • Held the association’s first ever virtual Annual Meeting.
  • Conducted virtual meetings with customers including Amazon (twice), Kroger (twice), Costco, Walmart, Target, and Bolthouse Farms. In addition, Dennis was a speaker at E-Pack.
  • Created a new Cybersecurity Committee. Led by committee chair Tim Bergwall, the committee includes representatives from 19 different companies who met regularly to hear from expert speakers and complete a Vendor Directory and IT Spend Survey.The group also hosted an awareness training webinar and FBA Board training.
  • Updated the industry’s go to Hazardous Materials Packaging Training Program to include new videos, training materials and tests.
  • Directed research on specified scoring profiles in order to characterize their effect on BCT strength.

I’m so proud to be involved with FBA and I encourage everyone to attend meetings and get younger generations/future leaders involved with FBA. Being involved is such a special experience and I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to be involved.

I want to thank Dennis and his staff for the work they do on behalf of our industry. I also want to thank my fellow Board members. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to serve you this past year.

Sincerely,

Bob Landaal