Sheeter maker fights for bigger cut

SHEET MUSIC: Joseph Matthews, president of Maxson Automatic Machine Co., says that the company is one of the last  independent sheeter manufacturers in the country. “It seems like every recession we lose another competitor,” he said. / PBN PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD
SHEET MUSIC: Joseph Matthews, president of Maxson Automatic Machine Co., says that the company is one of the last independent sheeter manufacturers in the country. “It seems like every recession we lose another competitor,” he said. / PBN PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD

It’s no accident that most cardboard cereal boxes lined up on the shelf in your supermarket are exactly the same size and shape, their edges trimmed to the millimeter.
After all, there are machines, built right here in Rhode Island, designed specifically for cutting the carton’s paper into the shape the food manufacturer needs.
Maxson Automatic Machinery Co. in Westerly has been making those machines, or their predecessors, for more than a century.
As with most companies that age, maintaining a viable business model in the face of constant technological change and market disruption is an enduring challenge.
The move toward a less paper-dependent world in particular has forced the company and its competitors to fight for a larger share of a smaller market.
But Maxson has made some key decisions to stay ahead of the game, starting with a move away from partnership with the high-volume paper-production business toward more specialized machines operating in multiple materials.
“When I started here in 1983 there were seven or eight companies that built something along the lines of what we offer,” said Maxson President Joseph F. Matthews. “We are not the only independent sheeter manufacturer in the country, but [it’s] close. It seems like every recession we lose another competitor. Even if the overall pie has gotten smaller, our share has gotten larger.”
Maxson was founded in 1912 by engineer and inventor Charles B. Maxson, who designed equipment to handle the sheets of paper coming off industrial paper-producing machines.
When producing new paper, mills could either feed it into giant rolls or cut it and stack it in sheets as it came off the machine. The latter option produced a more convenient product for customers, but the sheeting process became a bottleneck that would slow down how fast paper-production lines could run.
Maxson initially functioned as kind of a design arm for the paper mills, inventing machines to sheet paper as it came off the production line.
Starting around World War II, Maxson moved toward manufacturing and selling its own sheeting machines, because subcontracting parts to other factories became difficult during the war effort. Then, as technology improved through the second half of the 20th century, paper production became faster and the bottleneck caused by sheeting more significant.
At that point paper “converting,” turning raw paper into products like envelopes, cartons or boxes, detached from the paper-production process, which was then turning out huge volumes at rapid speed.
Maxson made a strategic decision to distance itself further from the paper industry and focus on marketing to the businesses using paper, such as commercial printers and carton makers.
About the turn of the century, Maxson expanded outside of paper entirely with machines capable of cutting freshly extruded plastic into sheets for applications such as backlit retail signs.
Today, Maxson trades on its skill as an engineering company capable of taking on special projects for divisions of industrial conglomerates, such as 3M, or making machines for cutting sheets of the sandpaper found at hardware stores.
In general, customers are now less focused on the speed and volume of large runs rather than how easily machines can change sheet sizes so they can make a greater number of smaller runs.
“Now you have specialty paper,” Matthews said. “It may be low volume, but high margin and something offered here in this country.”
The company has had some success in Europe, but the economy there is sluggish, while the Asian market has been somewhat resistant to outside manufacturers.
The clearest opportunities now appear to be in growing Latin American countries such as Brazil and Chile.
Like many manufacturers, finding skilled workers can be a challenge for Maxson, especially in Computer Numerical Control and Computer Assisted Design.
The company is taking advantage of a $10,800 grant from the Governor’s Workforce Board to train 27 employees and has partnered with Chariho Regional High School.
“The need for paper products is in decline, but there will always be demand for some paper and plastics,” Matthews said. “It is our responsibility if we want to stay relevant to find how trends are changing and design equipment with a value proposition to match.” •

COMPANY PROFILE
Maxson Automatic Machinery Co.
OWNER: Joseph F. Matthews
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Manufacturer and designer of paper sheeting machines
LOCATION: 70 Airport Road, Westerly
EMPLOYEES: 40
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1912
ANNUAL SALES: WND

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