Our History

Great Northern Corporation is founded

Great Northern Plastics is established

30,000 sq ft facility opened in Racine, WI to broaden our geographic reach. Among our first customers was Western Publishing who produced Golden Books

Great Northern forms a joint venture with Hayes Manufacturing named Laminations Corporation

Specialty Group is formed with Rollguard® and Custom Packaging

Corrugator installed in new 80,000 sq ft facility in Appleton, WI

Great Northern changes name to Great Northern Corporation as company expands into new markets and product lines

Great Northern sells its plastics facility to Tuscarora, Inc.

A state of the art package testing facility is established in Appleton

90,000 sq ft corrugating and conversion facility expansion in Appleton leads the industry in automation and modernization

Great Northern celebrates its 25 year anniversary and installs cellular phones in company vehicles

Racine expands with 108,000 sq. ft. addition

Acquires Laminations, an industry leader in edge protection

Laminations adds a manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, FL and the following year moves its headquarters to Appleton

Racine facility expands again with 90,000 sq ft addition

Acquired Kell Container in Chippewa Falls, WI

Opened StrataGraph in Oshkosh, WI

Opened New Jersey-based design center

Acquired Creative Carton in Minneapolis, MN

First of two HP digital presses installed in Chippewa Falls, WI

Two Ward ServoGraphix Flexo presses and Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 162 Litho press installed

Great Northern Corporation becomes Great Northern

Great Northern acquires United Displaycraft, a manufacturer of permanent displays, expanding our retail portfolio

HP High Speed Web Digital press installed in Oshkosh, WI

Laminations introduces SURECrate®, a custom-engineered, recyclable packaging solution that eliminates the need for wood crating

Great Northern becomes part of the APASS (Amazon Packaging Support and Supplier) Network which certifies our packaging materials, design services, and testing meet Amazon’s requirements

Laminations launches SUREContainer®, an innovative packaging and storage solution that provides a more ergonomic and safer way for workers to efficiently load contents within a large container

Chicago receives two major pieces of equipment with the addition of an automated tube laser and a materials handling system for the fiber laser

Fiber Interior Packaging is created to serve the e-commerce market with a fiber-based, biodegradable interior product protection solution

Great Northern invests in upgrading its test lab to be ISTA 6 compliant, allowing for testing of protective packaging that meets Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging initiative

The Great Northern Leadership Academy is launched. By the end of 2020, over 120 Great Northern team members will go through the program. Subsequent modules are developed and delivered annually

StrataGraph brand merged with Great Northern Packaging group

Laminations launches E-Board®, a recyclable edge protection solution for the e-commerce market