PackageOne And American River Packaging Join Forces To Create One Of The Regions Most Influential Industrial Supply Chains

Sacramento, CA – In an effort to expand its infrastructure and provide more robust products and services to its customers, PackageOne today announced that it has joined forces with American River Packaging. The combined company is called American River-PackageOne, Inc.

PackageOne, formerly headquartered in Ranch Cordova, Calif., is a distributor of industrial packaging, janitorial and office supplies. And American River Packaging, headquartered in Sacramento, Calif. since 1980, is a manufacturer of custom corrugated containers.

"This is very exciting for us since we have literally doubled our customer base," said Tom Kandris, CEO and Managing Director of American River-PackageOne. "We can now offer our collective customers an integrated supply solution that includes packaging materials, corrugated containers, graphic packaging design, and our proprietary Web based customer service technology solutions efficiently from a single source."

Tom Kandris led the business formation team with Richard Lamb, President of American River Packaging. The combined enterprise has revenues in excess of $40 million, employs over 170 people and has over 300,000 sq.ft. under roof in manufacturing and distribution capabilities. The company has manufacturing facilities in Sacramento and Madera, Calif. and Sparks, Nevada with additional distribution facilities in Salt Lake City, Utah. PackageOne's current headquarters is slated to move from Rancho Cordova to a campus setting in Sacramento at the end of June.

"We see tremendous upside in the combined businesses," said Kandris. "PackageOne has been very strong on the distribution side of the business and American River has shown great success on the manufacturing, design and retail packaging side. This really is a case where the combination of one plus one is much greater than two."

In addition, PackageOne has been a leader in the adoption of new technology for improving the supply chain with its customers. Most recently the company introduced a Partner's Portal, which gives customers online access and visibility to all their back office business activity with PackageOne.

"Our cutting-edge Web portal technology will now be utilized across both businesses and will serve as the cornerstone of our value proposition of driving both soft and hard costs out of the supply chain for our customers," said Kandris.

Richard Lamb will be transitioning to retirement after building a successful business. Lamb, who started American River Packaging more than 25 years ago, has focused on manufacturing, specifications and quantities of corrugated boxes previously unavailable in this marketplace.

"We are all about adding value to our customers and employees," said Lamb. "We can die cut multi color laminated boxes with high graphics, perform fulfillment activities and deliver products as a kit, ready to go on the grocery store floor if that is what our customer want. I think American River Packaging and PackageOne are a great fit because of the synergies and similar values."

Wendy Lamb will continue as Vice President of Operations for Manufacturing for the combined business. She has been instrumental in the successful operations of American River Packaging and will continue to be an integral part of the operation.

Eric Portela, a founding member at PackageOne, will transition to a consultative role after a successful 20 year sales career in the packaging industry. Portela and Kandris began PackageOne in 2000, and by the end of 2004 had 47 employees and $16 million in revenue. Together, they created a formidable distributor in Northern California while also doing business in 25 states.

Kandris recently brought in packaging veteran Gary Brewer as Vice President of Sales and Business Development to head up the commercial efforts for the combined business. Brewer has more than 25 years of experience in the packaging industry and most recently worked as a Regional Manager, Packaging for Afflink, a $5 billion sales and marketing E-commerce company based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

"I am thankful for, and truly believe, we have the best people in place at every functional area to take us to the next level," said Kandris. "With the combined businesses I see us continuing to grow and being in a position to help our customers become more successful. American River-PackageOne is in a good place to serve its customers, and its employees and their families."

For more information regarding American River-PackageOne, please contact Dennis Slack at dslack@packageone.com or 916-669-1883, or Chris Dancy at cdancy@arpkg.com or 916-929-7969. American River-PackageOne can also be found on the Web at www.arpk1.com or www.packageone.com or www.arpkg.com.

Source: American River-PackageOne, Inc.