Written by Mark Hostutler – Editor, American Community Journals

For more than a century, Acme Corrugated Box — a third-generation, family-owned manufacturer of corrugated packaging — has led its industry in product customization and technology adoption with top-of-the-line customer care and just-in-time solutions.

An integral part of its customers’ supply chains, Hatboro–based Acme gets to know their exact packaging and business needs — then designs and delivers accordingly.

Acme’s packaging solutions can be traced back to the end of World War I, to the cobblestone streets of Philadelphia, where Edward Cohen, the son of Russian immigrants, would pack his horse-drawn carriage with scrap paper and ride throughout the city in search of buyers. He found plenty and soon added corrugated boxes to his lot.

As society continued to industrialize and business flourished, Cohen incorporated Acme in 1938, and his son Bob joined in 1969.

Now, Acme employs 300 people and operates out of a 320,000-square-foot facility, serving customers in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Utilizing the most state-of-the-art robotics and high-speed automated machinery, Acme is the preferred packaging supplier and solution provider in the region, from concept to delivery.

“Acme Corrugated Box is one of the few remaining independent box producers in the Mid-Atlantic region,” said Bob Cohen, Acme’s President. “It’s a testament to our staying power and the attentive service we offer customers as a critical part of their supply chain.”

The strong values, long-term vision, resilience in the face of economic challenges, and commitment to relationships that are Acme’s hallmark are also what it looks for in a business partner.

“When we can, we want to do business with companies like ours,” said Jeremy Cohen, Bob’s son and Acme’s Vice President and General Manager. “We like the culture of family-owned businesses, their responsiveness, and the ability to get a decision-maker on the phone quickly.”

Approximately 15 years ago, when its relationship with the big bank it was working with had run its course, Acme found a kindred spirit in Firstrust Bank.

“The bank we were dealing with was getting larger and larger, and it was getting harder and harder to reach the decision-makers,” said Cohen. “Switching to Firstrust was simple.”

Founded more than 90 years ago, the bank, like Acme, is in its third generation of family management and has grown with its community.

“They’ve had faith in our ability to run our business,” said Bob Cohen. “As we’ve built the business and needed funding, Firstrust has been there for us.”

The video below highlights how Firstrust Bank has supported Acme’s innovation, expansion, and growth.

“No matter how smart you are as a businessperson, you really can’t do it alone,” said Bob Cohen. “We’re always thinking about how to improve, how to automate, how to use technology to the advantage of producing our product.”

Throughout the years, Firstrust has provided Acme with working capital and treasury management products. More recently, it financed an 80,000-foot addition to Acme’s plant, which Acme’s brass considers the biggest undertaking in the 100-plus-year history of the company.

“We were getting ready to do this expansion, then COVID hit, and our business dropped off,” said Jeremy Cohen, whose brothers Erik (sales) and Alex Cohen (operations) represent the third generation of Cohens at Acme. “Eight weeks later, it literally skyrocketed. There was a run on boxes because that’s when people were stockpiling.”

Acme broke ground in November 2020, and the addition was complete two years later.

“We were running out of room to grow; our four walls were constraining us,” said Jeremy Cohen. “We’d be in big trouble if we hadn’t moved forward with the expansion. It’s been a big success.”

Cohen said that Acme’s secret to success isn’t really a secret at all.

“We cater to the customer,” he said. “We do what our competition won’t or doesn’t want to do, whether it’s producing smaller order quantities or totally disrupting a lineup in the plant to get something to a customer who’s in desperate need. The prospects for the corrugated packaging industry look promising, because it serves many purposes — corrugated packaging is easy to get, recyclable, sustainable, and customized to fit almost anything. And we’ll always outpace the industry because we’re flexible and nimble.”

Learn more about how Firstrust Bank is helping people and businesses achieve success in the very region it calls home.