Packaging Etcetera Podcast
The Packaging Etcetera Podcast is by and large a forum for discussing events and trends in the packaging industry. While packaging is the focus, Etcetera is a reference to an occasional wild card - maybe something serious and career focused, or something scientific or maybe even something fun and playful.
Packaging Etcetera Podcast
Beyond the Band: The Evolution of Sustainable Packaging with the Banding Queen, Pattie Wexler
From lab technician to "Banding Queen," Patty Wexler's journey as a packaging pioneer breaks barriers and reshapes sustainability in the industry. After joining her father's fledgling packaging supply company in 1978, Patty transformed Wexler Packaging Products into a specialized powerhouse by focusing exclusively on paper banding technology—a decision that would prove visionary as sustainability concerns grew decades later.
Wexler's pivotal moment came in 2007 when she trademarked "Go Green with Banding" in response to Walmart's vendor packaging reduction initiative. The business case was compelling: paper bands cost pennies compared to traditional packaging while dramatically improving efficiency. Retailers reported shelves could be stocked up to 80% faster with banded products versus shrink-wrapped alternatives. Additionally, eliminating plastic and sharp cutting tools created safer working environments for retail staff.
European sustainability regulations further accelerated adoption of Wexler's solutions, particularly in the UK where strict plastic limitations drove innovation. The company developed fully recyclable paper bands using starch-based adhesives that require no poly coating, allowing companies to maintain strong branding while meeting environmental requirements.
The COVID pandemic and e-commerce boom created unexpected opportunities, with major retailers adopting Wexler's systems to efficiently prepare online orders. Today, the company's banding solutions span diverse applications from bundling medical supplies to securing produce without traditional packaging.
Throughout her 50+ year career, Patty navigated the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated field, earning recognition as a packaging pioneer and recent induction into the Packaging Hall of Fame. Her leadership focuses on creating growth opportunities for team members and supporting the next generation through scholarships for women in packaging.
Ready to explore how sustainable banding could transform your packaging strategy? Visit the Wexler website to learn how small changes can deliver significant environmental and financial benefits.
Hi folks, in this episode of the Packaging Etc podcast we'll be speaking with Patti Wexler of Wexler Packaging Products, the banding people. Wexler Packaging Products has been in business since the 1970s great decade and is a leader in banding technology, amongst other things. With that, patti, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much. Thanks for inviting me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely no. I've been looking forward to this. So before we jump into it, if you wouldn't mind, please just take a moment to introduce yourself.
Speaker 2:My name is Patti Wexler and I guess could also consider myself a packaging pioneer. When I started there were no women in the field doing what I do. My dad started the company in 1974, and I went with him in 1978. And we did sell packaging supplies literally packaging supplies. He worked for a company that sold tape machines and reinforced and paper gum tape and also self-seal paper bands, which is where the banding portion of it comes from.
Speaker 2:And I was in the medical field. Before that, I was a lab technician and I was in a totally different industry and I wanted to go into sales because I needed to make more money. And my dad said well, why don't you see, if you like working with me? And we really weren't sure where that was going to go because he was really a backdoor man which he didn't exactly see for his daughter, going into shipping rooms and loading docks. And he got me started with purchasing agents. You know I would spend a lot of time trying to sell something and make four dollars or I could do what he was doing and he had very nice margins on the paper bands and ultimately that's what I did. And then he and my mom just started going to Florida and doing their thing. It was just the three of us in the company and we worked in Pennsylvania, delaware and New Jersey. That was it.
Speaker 2:And in the late 80s we really started. You know, everybody wants to grow a company and you want to be able to grow and grow with the business that you've had. And I wasn't able to do that because there were big packaging houses that were selling to my customers at my cost. My dad said you can't buy and sell at the same cost. So I had to figure something out.
Speaker 2:And that's when I decided that I was going to go more north and more south and I was going to change the territories a little bit, just focus on banding, because that was the one thing that was my niche. Nobody was going to compete with me on that. So I went into New York and Virginia and then people started saying to me oh yeah, we're not using those anymore, which are the self-steel paper bands like the money bands where you touch the ends together and they stick. What are you doing? I said, well, we're using a little automatic machine. So that happened a couple of times and then finally I said to the fourth person okay, whose machine is it and where did you get it? And it happened to be EAM Mosca who we know is a manufacturer of strapping.
Speaker 2:And they were selling these little banding machines that came out of Japan and fortunately it was them, because I still consider them kind of a sister company, even though we're not really related and they said, sure, buy a machine. So I invested in a machine and my rep made the same amount of money, whether he gave me the leads or whether he did it. So I became the banding queen and I worked in those areas and I just put my blinders on and that's all I did. I was pretty successful at it and at one point EAM Moscow was about to really explode because the postal regulation changed and it was requiring that all first class compatible mail be strapped. So they just couldn't be bothered with the banding anymore.
Speaker 2:So they asked me if I wanted to take it over for the United States. Well, it was only me and the company. So the first time I said no and the second time I said yes and basically they gave me their entire customer base and I got a loan from my dad for $50,000 that he collateralized to his house and we were off and running. I bought the machines, I bought the parts and EAM basically said pay me back when you can. I mean, they were really amazing, that's great.
Speaker 2:It really was. I mean, they're a stellar company. There were three owners at the time and while they're not their siblings, they're the second generation is now working, is working there and they're still just a fine company. I went from those states to the United States for the tabletop machine which ATS modified with a stand that then turned it into a floor model, ran a jumbo roll of material.
Speaker 2:That was my position. It's kind of going on from there. Then I had to start hiring people to help me in the office, help me in the warehouse. I needed technical people to fix machines. And here we are, we're selling automation, we're selling floor models and at some point people decided that they did want to keep shopping with us. So we do sell strapping machines from EAM, osca. We have recently gone into linerless labeling. Well, no, that's about 10 years. Linerless labeling, that's a different topic altogether. And x-ray equipment vision and x-ray equipment. So that's what we do and we're pretty busy. We're doing a lot of trade shows.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I see you on LinkedIn. You guys are constantly checking in at different shows all around the country, all around the world, so you know, very happy for your success. You referred yourself as the banding queen. I like that and I think that's going to be my new moniker for you from now on whenever I see you the banding queen.
Speaker 2:Well, I have a lot of other banding queens that work here now. You know, there's Kristen, there's Tara.
Speaker 1:Well, there can be only one, queen Patty.
Speaker 2:That's true. Be only one queen patty that's true. I can't call them princesses though, but anyway I'll I'll share.
Speaker 1:I'll share with them because really they're, they're really amazing I've actually done a fair amount of business with with mosca, specifically during my time in corrugated. They were probably one of the they were top one, top two suppliers in in corrugated manufacturing for, at least from the plants that I had been in a lot of of Moscow strappers for bundling corrugated.
Speaker 2:You really set the tone, for, I mean, they have such loyalty from their employees and that always really fascinated me, because obviously you spend a lot of time finding people, training people and the last thing that you want to do is lose them. So I was very curious how they had that kind of loyalty and basically, you treat people right and they stay. It's really that simple, yeah, in this market.
Speaker 1:you don't see that, that loyalty that you know in both directions obviously. I remember going to a 50thth, 50 year service award celebration for an employee that had been with the company longer than even now that I've been alive, to think that, you know, he basically spent his entire life in that same building. It's really kind of kind of fascinating, but it's so rare, especially nowadays. People you know, myself included you know moving from job to job, you know it happens.
Speaker 2:I think what a company needs to do is offer different platforms where somebody can grow, because, no matter what you do, you're not going to stay where you are if you're stagnant. Yeah, so you know, there's the person that you hire and there's the person that they become within the company when you start to realize what they're capable of. And I think that's what makes it interesting too.
Speaker 1:Nice, that's well said, thank you. So let's jump. Let's jump into kind of the, the meat of our conversation and, and you know, specific to banding, and you had alluded to this previously obviously sustainability, the big hot button in packaging and other industries as well. How have the local, federal and even global sustainability initiatives impacted your business specifically in banding?
Speaker 2:That's a great question and certainly one that we're all very conscious of, and it's changed a lot through the years. My mind goes back to 2007 when Walmart created an initiative for the vendors that were shipping into their stores to reduce packaging, and that's when I trademarked Go Green with Banding. And when you go into the CVSs and the Walgreens and the Walmarts of the world, they want their stock people to be able to grab six of something, unwrap it and put it on the shelf and not take one at a time. So there were either shrink wraps or inner packs to do that. And when Walmart started this, we started our pitch about how about just a plain paper band? A lot of ship tests that have to happen to prove it I mean, usually it's the could be nine to twelve cents. A chip putting six of something in there and a paper band could be two cents. So it made a lot of sense, sense and sense. Nice Well, played little while.
Speaker 2:And as time has gone by, as we know, the reduction of plastic in Europe I mean ATS Switzerland, the other company we represent for the linerless labels, is in the UK and the linerless label is also sustainable because there's no paper backing, so that saves about 60% of waste, because most labels, you know you tear off a backing and then you have to lots of times have people come in a haul that away and you you pay for that.
Speaker 2:So, um, plastics was a big thing too. So eliminating plastic bags, eliminating plastic overwrap, and the big thing with walmart going back to that for a second was taking the sharp objects out of the hands of the workers at the supply level that were trying to unpack those. So for a shrink wrap, you know you have to usually put a sharp object there to take it off of there a paper band, you're just going to wrap it. So we have some amazing time studies. There was one that was done where on the supply level they loaded the shelves immediately 80% faster than with a shrink wrap. So that was really I mean I think it's kind of 40, 50%, 80% was a little extreme, but that's what the retailer said and I'm allowed to use that, so we'll just go with that.
Speaker 1:Even if you can claim a 50% reduction in cycle time, the labor savings amortized across whatever period you want to use, amortized across whatever period you want to use in addition to your overall reduction in carbon footprint, your overall reduction in packaging spend. I mean that's a net, net, net win.
Speaker 2:So Well and with shrink wrapping. It's also the heat tunnels, so you know. The one customer became a huge customer of ours is in Florida, so they're running air conditioning all year round and it really saved them a lot of money in air conditioning energy charges.
Speaker 1:I've also seen my fair share, and by fair share I would say more than one, maybe two or three heat tunnel fires because they weren't properly maintained and cleaned out and you get some of those little pieces of plastic, yeah. So you know there's hazards, that those things I mean. Granted, you know you maintain it properly, they work just fine, but you know I have seen that when they're not properly maintained, some of the safety concerns that they can pose.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. As time has gone by, the company in Switzerland has also been very, very conscious of the fact that they needed to eliminate the poly. Our equipment, the ultrasonic machines, require poly coating on two sides to achieve an ultrasonic seal sonic seal. We got to the point where people wanted to be able to not have any poly coating on it also, even though it was still. There's different levels of recyclability. But ATS came out with a totally recyclable paper which is a starch-based adhesive and doesn't require any poly at all. At one point in the stage of this, if it was a print registered band for branding, they would do the poly just at the point where the seal was going to be. So that reduced it to maybe 5%. So that was acceptable to most companies. But now it's totally no poly at all.
Speaker 2:It just continues to be something that it's just everywhere and People always want to discover us. It doesn't matter how much we're out there talking about that. We can save paper. You know that we can save them on shrink wrap and outer boxes and stuff. They like to see us at a trade show and they like to just go oh, that's a great idea, like. I tell our new salespeople that and they're always surprised that they still get that same reaction. People like to just go oh, that's a great idea, like I tell our new salespeople that, and they're always surprised that they get that. They still get that same reaction. People like to discover this on their own, even though it's out there, and when I first started nobody really knew what, what, what paper banding was, except in the printing industry, with off cuts and tape. So it's been an interesting journey and people thought I was crazy to build a business just on. This Turns out it really wasn't so crazy.
Speaker 1:No, not at all. I mean 50 years in business now, so well, going on 51, that's phenomenal. I'm lucky enough to say that I was able to attend your 50th year in business celebration in Chicago Great party. Thank you again for including me in that. Thanks for coming 50 years continuous operation is, you know, considering all the ups and downs and COVID and you know you name it, you know that's great. So again, congratulations on that.
Speaker 2:Interesting. Thank you, I really appreciate that. A lot of companies had a very difficult time during COVID and for us, you just never know where the industry is going to take you and who's going to be on the other end of the phone and it's funny, the phone is just ringing now. But what happened was we started to do projects for banding COVID test kits. A couple of the companies were actually banding the boxes that the COVID. We didn't get that order. Our partner, felons did, because it was in their territory. You just never know where it's going to take you.
Speaker 2:The other thing that happened was e-commerce became a really big part of what we do because people weren't going to the stores. So I think it was JCrew actually was the first one that was closing a bunch of their stores and I thought, gosh, we're not going to get the order. And we did get the order. They actually wound up buying three systems where what they're doing is they're packing the orders, dropping it on a conveyor, going into our bander where it holds the order together for multis with a paper band, and then it goes 30 feet down the line to a bagging system, label gets smacked on and it goes out. And we just finished doing promont in chicago and I mean the retailers that are showing up for this is just really off the hook.
Speaker 2:We work with a partner that manufactures bagging systems. You know, know we're getting orders for multiple systems at a time to do exactly the same thing. I mean I don't really go into stores that much anymore. I mean between Amazon and the online shopping. I hate to say I really don't. If there's any retailers listening, sorry.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, I you know. Just seeing how often the Amazon and FedEx and UPS and even the postal service trucks are up and down my street on a daily basis, you're not the only one. Considering how many Amazon boxes are on my front porch, I can say firsthand you're not the only one.
Speaker 2:People can start decorating the front porches with them. Yeah, use them for chairs.
Speaker 1:So kind of getting back to the sustainability side chairs, so kind of getting back to the sustainability side. From what I know, which on the sustainability front is not you know, I don't have a breadth of knowledge in that area but my understanding is that Europe is kind of leading the charge when it comes to the sustainability initiatives. Are there specific countries in the European Union that are that are leading that charge on the European front, or is it just a continental push, if you will?
Speaker 2:I think it's a continental push. I mean England, the UK stands out in my mind in terms of plastics. It's been a really, really big requirement for them and I think there's incentives from the government also. Other than that, it's really just been, I think, driven across Europe. I mean, europe always leads for us.
Speaker 2:One of the things that they're doing now is limiting plastics with vegetables and fruits, and ATS has many customers in Spain and the Netherlands where they're bundling. You know cucumbers and you know different types of vegetables leeks, asparagus. It's a tougher sell here, but we're getting around to it. In the stores now you'll notice that apples organic apples have a paper band around it, a printed paper band for branding, because there's two different ways. It could be a band that gets torn off in retail and it goes to the shelf as a six-pack or a five-pack or or a 12 pack, but then there's also the retail band that could possibly stay on there instead of a label or instead of a sleeve.
Speaker 2:So it's in a lot of different areas that it's been impacting us, but obviously a recyclable paper band, whether it's printed for branding or just plain, has really really become key. We even started doing tires because they weren't able to ship tires without boxing them, and they wanted to be able to eliminate that. So one of the companies was doing a shrink wrap around them and we were doing cross banding. We needed to make sure that it was that. Industry just takes us in all different directions but, yes, a lot of it is driven from Europe. They have a higher consciousness there and we're getting there. We're getting there.
Speaker 2:Slowly, but surely Slowly, but surely Yep.
Speaker 1:Slowly but surely Yep their packaging spanned on an annual basis and they're talking to you about how to? How to achieve that through banding. Do you see these companies? Sorry, I go back to goal setting. You know, early in my career they, using the smart acronym right, s M A R T. So is the goal specific, is it measurable, is it attainable, is it realistic and is it time bound? And if it's not all of those five things, it's not a really good goal. When it comes to the sustainability front, I would think attainable and realistic are probably hot buttons to discuss. Are clients setting goals that are just unrealistic.
Speaker 2:That doesn't really happen at our level. I mean that happens at the manufacturing level. By the time they pick up the phone and call us, they've already decided that this was something that was going to reduce their amount of packaging. If it winds up also being a labor savings, that's a plus. And there was a company that we were we're working with. We had an opportunity to do like 27 lines and it hasn't happened yet. Just because, I don't know, maybe we're number like three on the list instead of number one.
Speaker 2:There's different things that are happening where if you add a band, then you're able to grab the pack with a robot and eliminate labor by packing the pallet. So sometimes a band is added. For that reason I knew Mule and Martini was doing that years ago, where they were going to have an automatic machine for paper banding so that they could then use a robot to grab the pack and put it on a pallet. So there's a lot of different ways that this can work, but in general, the smart that you're talking about really happens at the manufacturing level and then we're the ones that facilitate the rest of it by reducing the amount of packaging and, as I said, for us, the banding machines can go possibly like 30 a minute and if somebody needs to go, if a company needs to go, 60 bundles a minute or 90 bundles a minute. We're just really adding banding machines to the system, which is possible.
Speaker 2:Have one installed down in florida that needed to do a hundred a minute off of a jones cartoning line for for, for bandages, for bundling boxes, advantages, and we just they. They built a banding machine, that's it's called the mlq, the multi-line quad, with a double turn station because they need to be upside upended and then they need to be paper banded. So they come to us and then between Wexler and ATS, which really is an engineering company, we figure out how to solve it and ATS always solves it. They're really kind of an amazing company and I've represented them for over 30 years. It's really been an honor.
Speaker 1:So, going back in our history yours and mine collectively I had a project that and this was the project that actually brought me to first meeting the Wexler team, and sadly your machine was not the one that was selected as the final solution for the project that I was working on at the time. And I found out years later not not too long ago, maybe a few years ago how your team creatively celebrated the I'll call it the lost business, and I thought this was absolutely hilarious.
Speaker 2:So, if you wouldn't mind, just kind of recounting that whole scenario, it was the only time that we'd ever been in a bid situation. I'd never been in a bid. It was a real nail biter and sometimes it comes down to price and ATS is not the cheapest. But Kristen Shaner, who is now our sales manager and road warrior I don't know how many years she was with the company at that point, maybe five, six years and she was so invested in this and we were so sure that it was really going to work because, first of all, you really favored us, I felt, because you really liked our solution.
Speaker 2:I did, and when it comes down to dollars and cents. It's unfortunate, but sometimes people are a little bit short-sighted because our machines last longer and they can always be rebuilt. So I had to do something, and I had to do something symbolic of the anger that she was feeling, that she lost it and all the effort that she had put into it. So I said, ok, come on, and I went and I had this like trash can, kind of a bucket, from from this big tree that I had in my office. We took it in the back and we gathered the plain white boxes that we had used for this project. We put it in there, we set fire to it and we did a dance around it, so we had a bonfire out back. I do have that on video.
Speaker 1:I've seen the video. Yes, I laughed out loud when I saw that video.
Speaker 2:It is, it does, it makes you do that. But I needed to do something where she really could just kind of put her focus and seeing something burn in front of your eyes and watching it go down to ashes, which is really what had happened, this really brought it to fruition, happened. This really brought it to fruition. And listen sometimes you lose things and you learn a lot from it and you get friendships from them also, which is really you know what happened with us and nothing changed, nothing gained, but that was fun.
Speaker 1:After an experience like that, I would think that I would be persona non grata around the Wexler office. But I have to say since then I've really developed great friendships with you and your team and Tara and Kristen and everybody else over there. So I always make sure to come visit you guys at the trade shows and and bother you and maybe steal a bottle of water here and there or something.
Speaker 2:But we always do like to do the giveaways, yeah, and really for us, one of the things that we really love about being a trade shows is not just the new opportunities that we find, but the fact that customers do come and visit us and they tell us stories that we can then use as testimonials in terms of what a difference our systems have made for them. But not only that the fact that they appreciate working with different members of our team, and it's always nice when people take a minute to just say you know, so-and-so was really great, they did a terrific job, they went above and beyond Whatever it happens to be. Everybody always wants an attaboy and we try and do it here. It's really nice when our customers do it for us. It's never one dimensional.
Speaker 1:Okay, so obviously we've spoken about sustainability, we've spoken about your origin story and the history of Wexler and whatnot, but I also wanted to talk a little bit about, or ask you to speak a little bit about, a woman-owned business in a male-dominated field was, I believe, a phrase that you would use. So see, if you could, because I'm sure we've got by now at least two or three listeners out there dipping into these podcast episodes, and I hope you know at least one of them is a you know, maybe a young lady in college or fresh out of school that might have some interest in becoming an entrepreneur, and so maybe they might find some, some inspiration in in your story. But you know, if you wouldn't mind, just talk for a minute about what that's been like for you.
Speaker 2:I will, and one of the things that comes to mind first of all is we're part of NJPEC and in fact I just got awarded not awarded into the Packaging Hall of Fame. Very well deserved.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I was there for that as well. That was a good one. When you're older, these things happen and we sponsor I sponsor scholarships, for it's mostly for women in packaging, so we do that every year. I'm very proud that we do that and kind of give a leg up to women that are starting out. Their experience will be very, very different than mine Again, the late 70s there just weren't women in the field doing what I do.
Speaker 2:It's always been interesting when I'm in a conference room full of people that happen to be men In the past. There's no general way to say it really that one of the reasons that women have to continue to get stronger is to be able to stand up for themselves and, in a room full of men, be able to say no, I can or no we can. One of the things that has helped my success is Mr Tanner at ATS who, when the other men in the room were saying no, she can, he would go yeah, she can. There was a piece of automation that I wanted to sell in the Midwest and everybody was like that's my territory but they didn't see a benefit for it in these printing companies and I said no, no, no, I want to sell it. I see the benefit. I can do this and he always gave me the ability to do it.
Speaker 2:When you have one champion like that in your life, it really makes a difference and it has gotten a lot easier. Obviously, there's women way up on the corporate ladder and it's been that way for the last I don't know 15, you know 20 years, but we do, as women, still need to kind of tell our stories to each other and remind ourselves that it's not as easy as it is for men. I think that's all I really want to say about that. But it has been. It has gotten different, you know, through the years and I never really tried to focus a lot on that, but I do notice that the gates have opened and it is certainly a lot easier.
Speaker 2:I don't know, the men and women are still paid the same in terms of, you know, fairness. But you know with what I do, you get out what you put in. So no one is deciding how much I make. And obviously there are people here, maybe in customer service or whatever, that has salaries and that's a little bit different. But the ceiling is really as high as you want to go. But there was a friend of mine that did a magazine article about me years ago and he did call me the packaging pioneer and it kind of stuck a little bit. And that goes back to what I said earlier, which is there just were not a lot of women in the field. And I did pave the way and I want to keep continuing to pave the way.
Speaker 1:Well, I applaud you for that. I think that's a great story. Thank you for sharing that Now. On a, I guess, more humorous note, I also understand that you've recently rented a scooter to motor around at trade shows.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the reason that I did it was at McCormick, which any listeners who have been to McCormick know how huge it is.
Speaker 2:I was bone on bone on my left knee and I really wasn't able to.
Speaker 2:We were like in the south building and I could get across to north, but I really wasn't sure about getting over to west because we had three booths and we had a booth over, uh, in west in pharma, and we had two, I think, in in south. But there were people that I also needed to see over on the east building, which is lakeshore, and the only way I was going to do that would be if I got a scooter and I got to tell you it was really a lot of fun and I they don't go that fast, but I did go as fast as it would go and I was scaring. Really a lot of fun, and they don't go that fast, but I did go as fast as it would go and I was scaring people a lot. I wanted to be able to have a scooter lane and I didn't get much support for that because I really did need people to get out of my way so I could get over to where I needed to go.
Speaker 1:You needed a horn.
Speaker 2:I could say to somebody I'll see you in 10 minutes, and I was able to get there. So now fast forward. I had the knee replacement, I'm doing better and I am able to walk. But I did rent a scooter at ProMod and again, I just have to say it was so fun. First, it's a big attention getter and it was nice having a scooter when I knew that I could walk. So that's at the top of the, at the top of the list. But I could say to somebody I'll see you in 10 minutes and I'd be able to get there, because it can be so overwhelming when you really need to see people at all different ends of the trade show. So that was a lot of fun and I'll definitely do it again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, I may need. I may need to take a page out of your playbook. Maybe the next time I go out for pack expo Chicago, or if I end up in Las Vegas later this year, I might need to fake an ankle injury or something and get myself a scooter.
Speaker 2:Yeah there you go, I will have a horn on mine.
Speaker 1:I promise you that and it will be a funny attention. No, I will have my own horn, that I can promise you.
Speaker 2:Should have thought of that. That would have been a good idea. We should have talked about it before I rented it. Yeah, We'll be in Vegas too.
Speaker 1:We'll see you there. Yeah, absolutely Like.
Speaker 2:I said every. It's a great thing that you do, by the way, matt.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, I really do.
Speaker 2:I think it's a very, very. It's a great thing that you're doing the podcast and bringing the stories of other people, because when would I really tell this story? I mean, it could be on my website, but who's really going to read the letter from the president or my story or whatever? So whoever's listening? Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you, and I applaud you for doing this. No, thank you. You know, in my first episode I had my wife interview me as I was introducing the podcast. In the first episode my original thought was I was going to go on a 15-minute monologue and just kind of give my backstory. And you know, just like I do for my guests now I ask them to introduce themselves you know backstory where you came from, how you got into packaging that kind of thing, and talk a little bit about why I'm doing this and what I'm hoping to get out of it. And I had kind of drafted a.
Speaker 1:I put a rough draft together for this Tolstoy novel Soliloquy of Mine, and as I'm practicing it and reading it and timing myself, I'm halfway through it and I was bored and this is about my life, so I could only imagine how boring it would be to anybody else that was going to listen in and so I felt like I needed to change something up and so I had my wife interview me. I figured she's been around for the you know pretty much my entire career. It'd be something fun for us to do together. When I talked about the, you know the genesis for this podcast. It was kind of a passion. It was born out of multiple things and I still don't know exactly where it's going to go and I don't know how successful it'll be or or at all, but it's been fun so far and you're trying it, how else would you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, and and I'm, I'm learning a lot by speaking to different people and, and you know, I'm hearing stories from you that I otherwise would not have. So you know, if we can have that conversation and record it and share it with somebody else, somebody else can say the same thing. Hey, I didn't know that about Patty, I didn't know that about Wexler.
Speaker 2:And one of the things that I also want to mention. I mean, obviously I'm here by myself, but there's a bunch of people behind me, because nobody does this alone. I mean, it really does take a village and you have to have people that are as passionate about what you do as I am, or as passionate as I am about what I do, and somehow I've been able to pass that along. And we are in such a diverse industry. I mean, every single industry that we touch has a different type of a solution. So it's a lot to learn, which is why you don't want to lose people after they learn it.
Speaker 2:And it's not for everyone, because this is not a direct sale. It's not like selling a car, it's not like selling a widget. I mean, you really have to dive into the needs of who's on the other end of the phone and why is it they need it and what is it that, how are they doing it now and what is it that they want to accomplish? And really, the SMART goals that you were talking about and they have the answer to most of them. And as long as that we, as long as we can do that, then it's a, then it's a win, win. But if you, if you don't have a great team, it's just not going to happen.
Speaker 2:And I'm really really very blessed to have some great people working with me. I mean certainly Tower Utain, who you know, my nephew Ryan Perlman, and also Kristen Shaner. All three of them have ownership in the company, which is part of my succession plan. I don't know when I'm retiring, I don't really have a plan to. I do know that when I take a backseat they're just doing terrific on the front line. They really are, so I'm very proud of that.
Speaker 1:Well, I can definitely echo that sentiment. You definitely and I've said this to you before, I think even at your hall of fame induction, at the NJPC event you have assembled a great team. You should, you should take a lot of pride in that. I definitely was not going to ask you Induction that was the word I was looking for Induction.
Speaker 2:Inducted into the hall of fame.
Speaker 1:But you, you did. I believe you used the word earned or awarded and very much deserved honor. So take nothing away you were inducted, but you absolutely earned that.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and the funny story about that which I'm sure I told you Kristen and Tara called me Kristen was the president of NJPEC at the time and Tara's on the board. And they called me and they were so excited and I'm looking at the smiling faces and I'm like, oh my God, what project did we get? And they basically told me that I was nominated for the. Hall of Fame and I have to say it doesn't sound.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh, I was an honor and I was very, very pleased and it was a wonderful ceremony and I have only great things to say about it. But in that moment I mean, I was just really all about business. I really wasn't thinking about me or what I've achieved or what other people might you know, perceive that I've achieved. But it was just so funny and they were so excited and I kind of stuck a bubble, I mean a pin in their balloon, that's what it was. They stuck a pin in their balloon.
Speaker 1:That's all right. Listen, they were all smiling faces that night.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What happened off camera, nobody needs to know about.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So we're getting close to the end and just wanted to see if there were any parting comments that you wanted to share about your company, your services, your experiences.
Speaker 2:I mean, we always say, let's explore the possibilities, so if there's anybody out there that thinks that we could be a fit, we'd love to hear from you. We do have a lot of our solutions, obviously, on our website, which is wexlerpackagingcom. We have our own YouTube channel, which is Wexler Banding, and it's really best to just talk about it because, as I said, you really never know. And yeah, that's all I have to say about that.
Speaker 1:I just really say about that I just really appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much for inviting me. You're a very easy person to talk to. The fact that you're a friend of mine and I call you a friend makes it a whole lot easier, because I don't really like to do things like this.
Speaker 1:But it was you and I had to say yes, and I'm glad I did. Well, I appreciate you stepping out of your comfort zone for me, uh, and I think that there's going to be a lot of people listening in on this that are really going to appreciate what you've had to share. So, uh, but I did want to add one additional thing, something that I've noticed about you over over the years that I've known you. You definitely ask a lot of questions and you ask why, and that kind of goes towards my root cause analysis training. You know, in a 5-why example, you know asking the same, asking why five times, and maybe it's three, maybe it's eight, but really, to drill down to the nuts and bolts of the issue and what you know, instead of addressing a symptom, you're addressing the problem.
Speaker 1:And that habit of yours, or an Exactly Well, yeah, your client's problem is your opportunity, right? I mean that's yeah. But I have seen that your habits around asking those questions diligently has passed on to the people on your team, because I can tell you I can't even count how many times Kristen has grilled me, either through the project that we worked on together or while she was president of NJPEC. She has picked up those same habits. So you know, kudos to you for passing that along.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, but I'd like to correct you. I mean, there's a lot that I learned from Tara. There's a lot that I learned from all of them. So you know, at this stage, you know, sometimes I'll say, oh, let's do it this way, and they'll go, no, no, no, we have to do this. No, no, no, we have to do that. So you know, lot of that is their sales training and their experience. It's very Kristen and it's very Tara and it's certainly very Ryan. It's really very all of them. So thank you for the credit, but I do feel that some of that has really come from them teaching me.
Speaker 1:Well, I believe, because you're the banding queen, you get the credit. Yeah, thank you. Okay, let's go credit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you okay, let's go with that. Yeah, let's go with that. So let it be written. So let it be done. I put my crown on and leave you there you go well again.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for your time today, really appreciate it. It's been great catching up and and talking with you and I guess hope to see you soon.
Speaker 2:I hope to see you soon too, on the uh, on the scooter in Vegas, and I wish you success. I think what you're doing is really wonderful and just spread it, continue to spread it.
Speaker 1:Well, listen, I'm going to keep throwing this stuff out there. You know I I can't make people listen, but you never know, so we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 2:I just went on Spotify and I'm following you.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:I'm going, so I'm going to listen. Thank you so much, not only to mine.
Speaker 1:Thank you, matt, thank you Everyone. Take care, we'll talk to you next time.