2025 Innovator of the Year: Sterling Packaging Raises the Bar in Folding Cartons

Editor's Note: Innovation takes many forms. Whether by leveraging new technology, building smart investment plans, initiating strategic acquisitions, placing a focus on workforce practices, or refining processes, industry leaders set themselves apart as true innovators.

Each year, we ask printing industry experts and consultants to nominate the print service providers they believe embody the term “innovation.” Our five Printing Impressions' 2025 Innovators of the Year are recognized for pushing boundaries and shaping the future of the field. It’s our hope that their approaches and philosophies may spark ideas to help other businesses reach new heights.

The summary of Sterling Packaging that follows shares what makes this company innovative, interesting, and exceptional.

Sterling Packaging has built its business on three cornerstones: holding itself to the highest standards, investing in education, and adopting technology early. Together, these proactive business strategies have fueled the company’s growth and earned it recognition as a 2025 Printing Impressions Innovator of the Year.

For the Monroeville, Alabama-based folding carton business and PRINTING United Alliance member company, innovation is in its DNA. Over the past 36 years, the company has carved out a niche in the food and beverage industry, serving a range of customers, from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies.

In chatting with Kelly Rasmussen, vice president of operations, and Colin Hickson, vice president of sales, three company pillars became clear: a commitment to excellence, education, and progress.

Raising the Bar on Quality and Service

The family-owned and -operated business’s dedication to quality started in its early years and remains part of its competitive edge.

It’s been following ISO quality standards since the early ‘90s, and in 1998, the company officially became ISO 9001 certified, laying the foundation for the policies and procedures needed for growth.

In 2019, the firm achieved its FSSC 22000 accreditation from SAI Global — a food safety certification recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative. Whether it’s a box for donuts, rice, or pasta, if the product directly touches the paperboard, Sterling Packaging follows the procedures to ensure food-safe packaging.

The company also takes pride in its three-to-five-week lead times and takes its OSHA requirements seriously like job hazard analysis and proper lock-out/tag-out procedures. Just as important is its focus on educating and empowering its workforce.

Building a Culture of Excellence Through Training

Sterling Packaging puts that same level of care into its workforce, investing in iLEARNING+ courses to train and educate employees — critical in an industry with aging, skilled workers. This, coupled with extensive on-the-job training with operators, ensures Sterling Packaging employees understand the ins and outs of printing and packaging.

“We all know that this is an aging-out industry, and so to attract younger workers that may not know anything about this industry, you have to have tools that you can quickly show them,” Rasmussen says of iLEARNING+. “When you offer these programs like ‘Orientation to the Graphic Arts’ or ‘Packaging Print Essentials,’ it gives a big overview on the whole industry, not just commercial print ... It’s a quick glimpse at, ‘OK, this is the industry. This is what it’s all about.’”

And Sterling Packaging doesn’t just use the courses for onboarding purposes. For long-standing employees who need a refresher or are transitioning into a new role or assisting another department, iLEARNING+ comes in handy.

“We do a lot of cross-training and lean manufacturing,” Hickson adds. “Our model of manufacturing has always been quality, efficiency, and speed. The market craves this, and we maintain open capacity to ensure we can satisfy even the quickest needs of a client.”

For example, the company has put several employees through the Customer Service Professional Certification, whether they talk with customers daily or not. Sometimes employees cover for different departments, or they happen to pick up a phone. They need to be able to talk with the customer and be as collaborative and helpful as possible, Rasmussen says.

“We always do online learning to fill in the gaps when they’re not on the production floor actively learning their equipment,” Rasmussen shares. Beyond iLEARNING+, employees also take courses focused on food safety, food fraud and defense, and quality.

Despite opening packages from the grocery store all their lives, most hires don’t enter the industry with the knowledge of what goes into creating these products. iLEARNING+ allows Sterling Packaging to bring new employees up to speed and current employees to further their skills.

In fact, it’s this dedication to continuing education that led to the company’s nomination as a 2025 Innovator of the Year.

“I believe Sterling Packaging’s commitment to employee training is a model for the industry,” Ray Weiss, vice president, eLearning and Certifications at PRINTING United Alliance, says. “It’s this focus on people that will keep them at the forefront as innovators.”

Fueling Progress and Staying Ahead

The company’s focus on quality and excellence fuels its future-ready outlook. According to Hickson, Sterling Packaging has always been an “early adopter of technology,” taking leaps and finding success.

Before it moved to Alabama, it was the first packaging printer in Canada to adopt computer-to-plate (CTP) technology from Heidelberg in 2001, served as a beta site for the PACKPRO module, and explored RFID technology in the 2000s, just to name a few early adoptions. Hickson says the company also has ongoing scientific research and experimental development (SRED) projects spanning years and manages projects through proof of concept to production. “We have the system and team to deliver concepts to the market,” he says.

Beyond technology leaps, Sterling made the move in 2018 to relocate its operation out of Canada — a move he calls “aggressive, calculating, and daring.” Because Canadian paperboard is lower quality and less available, he says, the company was importing nearly 100% of its paperboard from the U.S. Logistics challenges, rising costs, and the U.S.-Canadian currency issues were the catalyst for the move.

“[It was a] once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us, and we learned so much from this process,” Hickson shares. “Plan the work, and then work the plan. Has it been a smooth process? Absolutely not, but we would easily do it again to be here in the USA. This is the market.”

Looking at what’s ahead for the company, Rasmussen says the team, with help from equipment suppliers, will do an audit of all its equipment in 2026, determining what needs to be repaired, replaced, upgraded, or retrofitted across all its departments, from sheeting and printing to diecutting.

It’s currently testing out a digital embellishments machine to see which customer segments it best serves and how it can sell that enhancement. It has reinvested in pre-press software for layouts and CTP and investigated how augmented reality (AR) might play a role in its offerings. The company’s graphics designers and CAD employees took the “Augmented Reality and Interactive Print” training on iLEARNING+ and found it intriguing, Rasmussen says, but the company needs to consider the next steps, from hosting and management to overall strategy.

While it explores new technology, Sterling Packaging will continue to focus on customer service and aim for even shorter lead times than the industry standard.

“The last five years have proven very challenging for our industry, but if you stay in your market niche, believe and invest in your people and the assets, your customers will be taken care of,” Hickson adds. “Those actions and attitudes will allow you to look outside your plant instead of inside and hopefully see the next opportunity the market presents.”

The blueprint is clear: Invest, innovate, and keep raising the bar.