Box Makers Display Realism and Resolve Amid COVID-19 Crisis

The box makers knew exactly what they were up against, and they weren’t trying to pretend otherwise.

“I am scared to death that we get one positive COVID-19 person in the plant,” said one. “Because I’m afraid that half the people will bail.”

“People are freaking out,” said another, as nearly 400 other participants in a live videoconference did their best to process the onslaught of bad news about the pandemic’s accelerating spread.

But, the tone of the virtual mass huddle, while somber, wasn’t alarmist or despairing. Very much the opposite, in fact, as AICC, The Independent Packaging Association, made its first online outreach to its members about COVID-19’s impact on the corrugated, folding carton, and rigid box industries.

The event, broadcast via Zoom on March 20, was a communal forum that let AICC members assemble as a support group to do two things: commiserate objectively about how the spread of the virus has affected operations at their plants; and share best practices for coping with a situation that, everyone agreed, almost certainly will worsen as COVID-19 forces their businesses deeper into crisis mode. READ FULL ARTICLE