With 2019 now complete (where did the year go?), it just makes sense to look back over the past year to see what’s changed and what’s been accomplished. Although not without its challenges, 2019 was a really good year for Conner. That’s especially true when compared to 2018, which is when a hurricane completely destroyed our Panama City, Florida plant. Fortunately for us, 2019 was a much better year on that front!
It’s been a transformative year for us, but before we get into that, we’d like to take a moment to say thanks. We appreciate our employees, customers, partners, and friends in the industry, and wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2020. Thank you for being part of this tremendous journey!
40% Employee Growth
You may have noticed that we’ve been posting a lot of “now hiring” entries on our social media profiles lately. That’s no accident.
Our headcount grew by 40% in 2019!
We’ve added employees at many of our plants (along with adding new plants) to accommodate new customer growth, but the trend didn’t stop there. We’ve also added positions in many departments, at both the plant and corporate level, and there are many more planned in the coming year.
Amazing Employee Longevity
In an economy where members of the workforce jump from job to job, and work for several different companies throughout their lifetimes, one of the things that we’re most proud of is the longevity of our employees. It’s an honor to have so many career Conner employees that choose to stay with us and be part of our tremendous work family.
Take a look at these amazing statistics:
Plus we have one employee who will reach their 35th work anniversary with Conner at the beginning of January.
That’s AMAZING!
Having this kind of employee longevity is exactly why we can boast at being one of the most knowledgeable companies in the industrial wood and packaging industry – We’re fortunate to have hundreds of years of combined experience under our belts.
Conner Cares for the Community
Conner always tries to be a good member of the local community in each of the areas where we have plants located. These areas are where our employees live, work, and raise their families, and many of them are involved in a wide variety of charities and community organizations.
Here are a few of the highlights from 2019:
Stepping Up As An Industry Leader
We’ve always believed that we were an industry leader when it comes to industrial wood and custom industrial packaging. For nearly 40 years, we’ve been honing our skills and serving a wide range of customers and industries.
In 2019, we decided to take that to the next level by:
- Consistently blogging about the issues that matter most to our customers and prospects. Click here for our most popular articles of 2019.
- Actively posting on social media about the challenges facing our industry (and some fun stuff about Conner too).
- Creating a monthly newsletter for industry insiders (You can subscribe here.)
New Technologies and Equipment
From a technology perspective, 2019 was a pretty big year for Conner. Although we can’t give you the details on this one, we made some crucial technology moves that will help us to better serve our customers, and we’re pretty excited about it.
We also procured a lot of new equipment in 2019. From pallet machines to CNC routers, Conner invested a significant amount of money in new equipment for our existing plants. As you might imagine, we’ve also made significant expenditures in the new plants we opened in 2019.
It was a big year for technology and equipment, and we expect more of the same in 2020.
Opening 2 New Locations & Acquiring New Packaging Division
Company growth was one of our big missions for 2019. We obviously wanted to grow our customer base, but we also wanted to grow our overall plant footprint. Fortunately, we were able to do both in the last year.
We started 2019 off with the opening of our Clarksville, Tennessee plant, and ended it by creating one of our largest plants to date in Montgomery, Alabama.
But that’s not all.
We also acquired RoseMill Packaging, in Lewisburg, Tennessee, last July. This resulted in a whole new packaging division for Conner that focuses on a broad range of manufacturing and services products utilizing combinations of wood, corrugate, plastic, and foam packaging.
As one of our most exciting developments for 2019, you’ll be hearing much more about this in the coming year.
Looking Forward to 2020
It is very exciting to be part of a company that is in a growth trajectory. It’s also exciting to know that we have many interesting opportunities coming up in 2020 and beyond.
We sincerely thank you for being part of our journey in 2019 and allowing us to continue serving you. We hope to continue providing the industrial wood and packaging solutions you can count on for many, many years to come.
