News & Announcements: Bradford Company

Bradford Announces 100 Year Milestone

Tags: Announcements

HOLLAND, Michigan, January 31, 2024 — Bradford Group Incorporated, a fifth-generation family business, announced its 100 year anniversary of incorporation this month, with plans for celebrations throughout 2024.

“We couldn’t be prouder or more excited to reach this milestone.” says Tom Bradford, President and CEO of Bradford Group Inc.

“Our legacy is steeped in traditions of listening to our customers and developing packaging solutions to help them meet their product protection and handling requirements. Sometimes it requires innovative solutions and other times it requires herculean efforts to meet challenging timeframes that help them succeed. That has kept us at the forefront of the industry for 100 years,” added Bradford.

The 100-year milestone is marked by the date which Bradford, then named, W.J. Bradford Paper Company, was granted incorporation status in 1924. Bradford actually operated by that name as a confectionery packaging company with roots dating back to 1897. Those roots include what Mr. Bradford says is the core focus that has led to their longevity: Serving the customer first.

Bradford explains, “Our team embraces that we are here to serve others. That is always our focus and comes through in our culture of Forward Thinking, Agile, Simple and Trustworthy or FAST as we call it. We are blessed with an amazing group of talented people that approaches work with an enthusiasm of helping each other while meeting the challenges of the day.”

This camaraderie of service has extended to multiple generations of Bradford employees and owners — an approach that continues on as Bradford begins its second century of operations.

“While we are proud to have made it to a fifth generation, we are most proud that multiple families over multiple generations have chosen to work and make a career at Bradford. That has carried on outside the U.S. as well, and we believe it speaks to the culture of empowerment, and the opportunities we are creating as the company continues to evolve,” added Bradford.

The company is planning some celebratory announcements and events in 2024 to reflect on the foundational efforts, growth, and success of the previous 100 years and to also set the tone and direction for what’s next

To that end, Mr. Bradford summarized the 100 year milestone, “We are thankful for those that came before us and laid the foundation for the Company we are entrusted with today. We’ve learned to embrace change and to adapt to the markets we serve. While we still manufacture partitions made out of a variety of paper materials, we’ve gone from a company that made packaging for candy to developing complex returnable systems using textiles, plastics, and steel, for OEM’s and their suppliers in multiple industries. I’m excited for what lies ahead and I know our team is ready to take on tomorrow’s challenges.”

More information about the legacy and history of Bradford can be found at https://bradfordcompany.com/about/

About Bradford

The W.J. Bradford Paper Company was founded in 1897 and incorporated in 1924. Today, Bradford is North America’s largest manufacturer of industrial chipboard (paperboard) partitions and custom engineered reusable/returnable interior protective packaging. More information about Bradford is available at bradfordcompany.com


Bradford Announces Acquisition of Partitions Plus

Tags: Announcements Locations

HOLLAND, Michigan, August 23, 2023 — Bradford Group Incorporated announced the asset acquisition of Findlay, Ohio-based Partitions Plus LLC, one of the Midwest’s largest corrugated partition manufacturers.

The acquisition of the 80,000 square foot production facility accelerates Bradford’s continued growth in the corrugated partition market. The official announcement was made on Monday, February 13, 2023 in Holland, MI.

“We are excited to build on the positive customer relationships that have been formed by the Partitions Plus team and look forward to working with the many talented people there,” said Bill Baumgartner, Senior Vice President at Bradford.

Ben Riblet, a co-founder of Partitions Plus, is the General Manager of the new enterprise.

“We’ve experienced a great deal of growth over the last several years in the demand for innovative, high-quality partitions products. Bringing Partitions Plus into the Bradford family of companies helps us meet that demand,” adds Baumgartner.

The acquisition positions Partitions Plus as the ninth packaging manufacturing operation of Bradford Company, a fifth-generation family-owned business with locations in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.

About Bradford

The W.J. Bradford Paper Company was founded in 1897 and incorporated in 1924. Today, Bradford is North America’s largest manufacturer of industrial chipboard (paperboard) partitions and custom engineered reusable/returnable interior protective packaging. More information about Bradford is available at bradfordcompany.com

 

About Partitions Plus

Partitions Plus (P+) was founded in 2011, with a core focus on paper corrugated partitions. Today, P+ is known to service their Midwestern customer base with a wide variety of partition products. More information about Partitions Plus is available at  https://partitions.plus


Bradford Group Inc. celebrates 25 years in Mexico

Tags: Announcements

HOLLAND, Michigan, June 28, 2023 — 2023 marks the 25th year of operations for Bradford de Mexico (BdM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bradford Group Inc. The organization celebrated the occasion recently with teams from both BdM and the United States meeting in Monterrey, Mexico, for a day of much-deserved celebration.

Tom Bradford, President and CEO of Bradford Group Inc., was on hand for the festivities.

“We’re so thankful to our customers and employees at BdM and in the United States for hitting the ground running 25 years ago and continuing to grow and expand our capabilities here in Mexico,” he said.

“Twenty-five years have flown by since BdM began operating — but that flight hasn’t been on ‘auto-pilot.’ It’s been the hard work and dedication of each BdM team member that has navigated us to this point and resulted in the ability to celebrate how far we’ve come,” Bradford added. .

Established in 1997, BdM provides custom returnable / reusable packaging, Work In Process, and one-way shipping solutions for automakers and their suppliers. BdM’s range of products includes steel racks, molded plastic containers of all sizes, custom fabricated totes, textiles and custom sewing solutions, and paper-based boxes and partitions using a wide variety of internal packaging materials. Along with manufacturing services, BdM offers an impressive Design Center and a certified package testing laboratory.

Amidst the dancing, food, and fun, there was plenty of excitement to go around — not only for celebrating the accomplishments of the past 25 years, but also continued energy around the innovation and growth of BdM.

Bradford adds, “BdM continues to build on the strength and capabilities accrued over the last quarter-century. That really boils down to making sure we stay vigilant on responding to the needs of our customers. We spend a lot of time working to understand where our customers are going, what their needs will be. That fuels our innovation and expansion strategy. BdM continues to be an integral part of that drive to continue meeting and exceeding our customers’ expectations.”

About Bradford

Bradford Company was incorporated in 1924 and is headquartered in Holland, MI. Bradford Group Inc. operates nine manufacturing plants across North America that provide custom engineered reusable/returnable protective packaging and industrial chipboard (paperboard) partition solutions. More information about Bradford is available at: bradfordcompany.com