In 1884 a man named Sabin Robbins was a solo entrepreneur who happened upon a business opportunity that changed the paper business forever. That same entrepreneurial spirit, with an adaptable business model that is responsive to customers, is the reason that Sabin Robins is growing in a digital world. In the next 18 months, the Mansfield facility plans to hire up to 70 new employees.
The company recently came under the leadership of CEO Nathan F. Moser. When asked about our increasing shift toward a paperless culture Moser said, “People still use paper, they’re just using it differently and we’re best able to respond to that.” The Sabin Robbins Company is a converting company.
What does a converting company do? Like most manufactured products, the process of turning trees to pizza coupons for example, utilizes more than one manufacturing facility. First the paper mill manufactures the paper and rolls it onto large spools. Then the spools are shipped to converting facilities, like Sabin Robbins, that cut the paper to the specifications of the end user.
In the case of the pizza coupons example, the paper would be cut to the specifications of the printer and shipped to them. The printer will print the coupons as directed by the advertising agency, and then deliver the coupons to the direct mail company, who then processes the coupons for mailing and delivers them to the post office, who of course delivers the coupons to your home.
It didn’t always work this way. In the late 1800s printers typically bought paper directly from the mills, but mills, as it turns out, were less adept at the conversion process.
Sabin Robins was an entrepreneur and salesman from Ohio who supplied wrapping paper and other supplies to pharmacists in the south. He obtained the paper by purchasing discounted overruns from a local mill in Ohio, which allowed him to offer competitive pricing. One day when a local printer in the south, unexpectedly ran out of paper Robin’s was able to help out in a pinch. Thus, an industry was born because Robins paper was of better quality and more affordable.
At one time the company had divisions from coast to coast, but in keeping with the entrepreneurial spirit of the founder, the company has evolved with the times. Now there is a single converting facility in Mansfield, Ohio, but thanks to strategic logistics, the Mansfield plant is able to serve the entire country from this location.
Moser brings a different sort of leadership to the Sabin Robbins company. The previous owners were a private equity firm, and the nature of such businesses is to treat the facility as an investment, rather than run it as a business. After ten years of non-industry investors Moser comes to the table with industry experience and personal investment. His intention is to grow the company and utilize local talent to do so.
“We want to employ Mansfield citizens pure and simple,” said Moser.
Converting is a skilled trade, but one that is so specific that most of the training has to occur on the job. Moser is working on logistics that will expand operations significantly in the near future, the result of which is an anticipated doubling of his current staffing levels. The plan is to hire around 70 people in the next twelve to eighteen months.
