About SPG

Building integrated, comprehensive protective packaging solutions.

Specialized Packaging Group sought to bring together the best companies in the protective packaging industry to create a truly comprehensive packaging solution for companies in multiple industries across North America.

Our companies bring together multiple facets of the protective packaging industry.

Our companies include:

ProtecPac

Creating a more comprehensive protective packaging solution is our goal at Specialized Packaging Group. Nowhere is that more clear than our melding of the teams, solutions, and skills of the Specialized Packaging Solutions (SPS), IndusPac and Packaging Specialists Inc (PSI) companies to create ProtecPac, focusing on providing custom protective packaging for a wide range of customers.

Packaging Concepts & Design

Research and design are at the heart of creating innovative protective packaging solutions, and our Packaging Concepts & Design brand is an industry leader in the R&D process and creating solutions for customers in a broad spectrum of industries.

Protective packaging needs can change literally overnight. That’s why Packaging Concepts & Design is committed to innovating new solutions before our customers even need them. They can also respond to changing customer needs by building them an all-new protective packaging solution.

Ivex

The most innovative and effective packaging products are only as good as the materials from which they are built. Ivex ensures that our products and those of our customers are constructed from quality materials that are sustainable and innovative. They’re constantly working to create cutting-edge materials that can make protective packaging even better and that allow us to have a smaller environmental impact.

Considering joining our family of protective packaging brands? We’d love to hear from you.

Backed by Altamont Capital

Specialized Packaging Group was acquired by Altamont Capital in December 2020.

Altamont Capital is a major private equity firm that focuses on providing companies undergoing a transition with the monetary means to meet their goals. Their team currently has more than $4 billion in capital under management, and they work with top management teams, like ours, to help middle market businesses grow and thrive.

Check out the Altamont Capital website to learn more about their approach, team, investment portfolio and more.

These values are at the core of our family of protective packaging companies

We set ourselves apart not only by the comprehensive solutions we offer, but also by the core values that inform everything we do. The values that inform every one of our protective packaging companies and their interactions with their employees and customers are:

Safety

From boardrooms to production facilities to customer loading docks, we strive for the highest safety standards.

Honesty

We are honest with our customers and our employees, especially when that is tough to do, because we seek to build employee and customer partnerships based on trust.

Innovation

We are never satisfied with our current solutions or afraid to innovate new ones for our customers.

Ethics

We are committed to adhering to our company values, even when it would be easier to bend or break them.

Loyalty

Our team will stand beside our employees and our customers no matter the cost.

Diversity

Innovation is impossible without the viewpoints and ideas of people from a wide variety of backgrounds, which is why our business is committed to diversity at every level: from the factory floor to the C-suite.

Our Packaging Companies

Over the Years

1914

Packaging Concepts & Design was founded

1947

Chippewa Paper Products is founded by Joe Druth.

Chippewa Paper Products is now Ivex Protective Packaging

1950s

Chippewa Paper Products purchased by Lanzit Corrugated Co.

1960s

Three Chippewa Paper employees purchase the company for $3 million.

  • Chippewa became a division of Consolidated Packaging.
    Two small competitors were purchased in New Jersey/New York Metro.

 

1970s

Chippewa purchased Blazer Industries in Chicago (corrugated build-ups)

  • Purchased Blazer Industries in Chicago, Prairie States Paper Mill, Peoria Paper Mill, Detroit Paper Mill, and Chagrin Falls, Ohio Paper Mill, and Camcor Packaging
  • Purchased small singleface operation in Framingham, Mass
  • Continental Packaging purchased and changed name to Chippewa Camcor Packaging
1976

Packaging Specialists Inc (PSI) is formed in Arizona.

PSI began operations out of a 10,000-sq. ft. building in Central Phoenix. Customers including IBM and Honeywell depended on PSI for innovative ways to provide cost effective packaging solutions for manufacturers in Phoenix.

1980s

Chippewa Camcor Packaging change company name to Ivex Packaging Inc

  • Purchased Malenco, Inc., plastic and singleface plants in Chicago, Madison,GA; Visalia,CA; Vineland,NJ; Rockaway,NJ.
  • Ivex sold to The Richard Ivey Family for $300 million.
  • Ivex purchased L&CP (Sherman Paper) from Champion Papers, and two plastics businesses

1986

PSI moved into a 60,000-sq. ft. facility in South Phoenix

The facility remained home for 26 years, providing space for the increased customer base raw materials as well as manufacturing, assembly and finished goods. 

1990s

Ivex acquired by Arcadia Investments Group for approximately $450 million.

Accelerated acquisition strategy, purchasing several plastic businesses.

Ivex goes public in 1994.

1996-97

PCD is acquired by The Oxford Investment Group.

PCD enters the automotive industry with a focus on returnable packaging

2000s

PCD partners with minority business Diversity Packaging.

  • Develops first large engineering program with in-house customer support.
  • PCD shifts focus to returnable business.

Ivex purchased by Alcoa for the plastics business for approximately $850 million in 2001.

Atlas Holdings subsidiary Forest Resources acquires Ivex Packaging and P&P Packaging of Monroeville, OH in 2006.

Specialized Packaging Group acquires Ivex Packaging’s paper converting businesses and Creative Color Design (CCD) in 2008 to create Ivex Protective Packaging, Inc. 

  • Ivex builds new converting plants in Visalia, CA and Calhoun, GA.
  • Forest Resources acquires McMillan-Bloedel division of Weyerhauser Corp and Creative Color Design in New Castle, PA.
  • Calhoun, GA facility sells to Quality Packaging.
  • Visalia,CA plant moved to Ontario,CA.
  • Foam manufacturing begins in Tijuana, Mexico.
2008

Hadley Capital purchased PSI.

2010-2012

PCD leadership team completes management buyout from The Oxford Investment Group.

Completes first export powertrain packaging program to Italy.

Develops export packaging program to Russia & Venezuela.

2012

PSI moved into a 107,000 sq ft facility in Chandler, AZ.

Completes first export powertrain packaging program to Italy.

Develops export packaging program to Russia & Venezuela.

2014

O2 Investment Partners (“O2”) purchases majority stake in PCD.

Joe Gumbis hired in COO, later moving to CEO role.

2017

PCD acquires Packaging Specialists, Inc. (“PSI”).

Incorporates PCD Packaging de Mexico to pursue opportunities with Mexican manufacturers.

2020

SPG is acquired by Altamont Capital Partners of Palo Alto, CA.

2021

PCD Acquired by Specialized Packaging Group.

2021

Specialized Packaging Solutions (SPS), a woman-owned corrugated box business is purchased by SPG.

2022

SPG acquires Canyon State Box and combines with PSI to become ProtecPac.

2022

indusPac West, SPS, PSI, and Canyon State Box rebrand to become ProtecPac

Rethinking Packaging for Sustainability

Packaging is a necessary tool to get products safely and efficiently to their destination, serving to both promote brands and educate consumers. However, much of packaging is designed for single-use, and is too often confused as waste rather than as a tool to reduce waste.

We recognize the desire to reduce waste and approach packaging design as a balance between product protection and resource optimization. We believe we can leverage the value of packaging while at the same time reducing the environmental impact of packaging material use.

Packaging is intertwined with product protection, so it is essential that we consider the lifecycle of the product and materials we use to protect that product and tailor design to the product’s individual needs. There is no easy answer to what a sustainable product is, rather, a sustainable package design depends on a variety of factors. Familiar with distribution requirements, legislative trends and consumer preferences, our sales and design teams work with our customers to identify the best materials and best designs to ensure your packaging offers the greatest protection for both product and the environment.