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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 17 O C T O B E R 5 , 2 0 1 5 On Nov. 14, Volk and his family will be honored as "Humanitarian of the Year" by the Spurwink Foundation for his work promoting autism aware- ness. Volk's wife is state Sen. Amy Volk (R-District 30). ey have four kids. "I believe very strongly in giving back," he says. "I've been very blessed in this life, and I feel like I need to give back, even if it's just a fraction of what I've been given." Volk Packaging was founded in 1967 in Biddeford's industrial park by his grandfather and father, Benjamin and Kenneth Volk. Born and raised in Maine, Volk started at the family-owned business on the production fl oor at age 17. After working every job in production and administration, he came on as one-third owner in 1997 and presid ent and co-owner in 2007 upon the retirement of his father. In 2008, the company moved from its original 65,000-square-foot plant to a 141,000-square-foot building and increased its machinery, signifi cantly boosting capacity and setting the stage for major growth. "We're now putting out more in our current facility by August than we did [in the fi rst plant] in our best year," Volk says. In 1996, Volk Packaging produced 162 million square feet of corrugated cardboard. For 2015, the com- pany is on track to produce about 260 million square feet. It should be noted that 100 million square feet of cardboard fi lls about 1,000 tractor-trailers, so that means the company will ship about 1,000 truckloads more this year than it did 19 years ago. Volk Packaging had a record year in 2014, with $26 million in sales. is year it expects to be up 8%, despite losing its largest customer, United Technologies Corp.'s Pittsfi eld Fire and Security plant, which closed earlier this year. "We have 1,200 active customers," Volk says. "Because we're so diversifi ed in our customer base, we don't have any one customer that will crush us if we lose them." Geographically, Volk Packaging is solidly New England, with more than 600 customers, about 55%, located in Maine. Customers range from Fortune 500 companies to mom-and-pop operations. " ere are a lot of people we do business with who make wicker chairs in their garage or candles in their kitchen," Volk says. " ey all need boxes. I have a sales rep dedicated just to those customers. And there's a lot of them. About 30% of our customers bought under $1,000 — a pallet or less of boxes — over the course of a year." e company has about 85 employees. About 65% have been with the company at least 10 years. Nearly 10% have been with the company more than half their lives — and of course Volk himself is part of that club. Corrugated boxes go back to the 19th century, but Volk Packaging is at the forefront of production and design developments. It has the exclusive New England license to market THATBox, which was developed in South Carolina and has an auto-lock bottom and doesn't require tape. With the help of a paper company, Volk Packaging created the Supershield wax-free box, which is used for shipping wet food products like seafood. It's biodegradable, so food markets no longer have to separate it from standard corrugated boxes. e product is on track to have sales of $1 million this year. "People have been trying to do this for 30 years, unsuccessfully," Volk says. "We've done it. It's taken a lot of trial and error. We're doing great with it." Volk also reorganized a small division of the company, the Maine Box Factory, off ering bubble wrap, mailing labels and related products. It's now doing almost $1 million in business in small orders. Perhaps most importantly, Volk off ers a personal customer experience. at's in line with his grandfa- ther's motto, "Our customers are our bread and but- ter." Every January, he goes on a "thank you tour" to visit customers. He also makes sure customers know they can contact him anytime. "People aren't going to buy from us because we make a good box," he says. "A lot of people make a good box. ey'll buy from us because we care about their business." L aUr i e S C H r e i be r, a w r i te r ba s e d i n B a s s Ha r bo r, c a n b e r e a c h e d a t e d i t o r i a l @ m a i n e b i z . b i z Volk Packaging Corp. 11 Morin St., Biddeford President, co-owner: Derek Volk Founded: 1967 Employees: 85 Revenue: $26 million Contact: 571-5511 www.volkboxes.com Congratulations to Sea Bags on its acquisition of Chart Metalworks, a maker of handcrafted nautical chart jewelry. We are honored to have represented Sea Bags in this further expansion of its iconic brand. Portland, ME | Boston, Ma | augusta, ME | Westport, Ct | Providence, rI | Washington, DC www.verrilldana.com Maine, Malted. With funding from CEI and the Maine Technology Institute behind them, BLUE OX MALTHOUSE is quickly becoming the premier supplier of conventional and organic malt from Maine-grown grains to the $35 million Maine brewery market. Our nonprofit community lending puts millions into Maine. 207-882-7552 | www.ceimaine.org | @ceimaine

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