Greg Hrinya, Editor06.06.24
15 Westchester Drive, Milford, NH, USA 03055
www.amherstlabel.com
Inovar Packaging Group, an award-winning converter headquartered in Dallas, TX, USA, knows that its strength is greater than the sum of its parts. The company, which produces innovative prime labels, shrink sleeves and extended content labels for many leading brands across the nation, has focused on partnering with entrepreneurial-spirited and like-minded organizations that share a similar set of their own core values: Customer Focused, Team Engagement, and Partnership Driven.
“A key pillar of our strategic growth plan is to increase our market competitiveness and enhance customer value by acquiring new businesses,” explains CEO Jeff Brezek. “These acquisitions add new capabilities to our innovative platform, strengthen our existing services, and expand our footprint in desired locations.”
One such acquisition, Amherst Label, has helped Inovar expand its portfolio, which includes existing manufacturing locations in Dallas, TX, Newburyport, MA, Milwaukee, WI, Kansas City, KS, Oceanside, CA, Westfield, MA, Sioux Falls, SD, and Aberdeen, SD.
Amherst Label
Established by Nick Calvetti, Sr., along with his son, Nick, Jr., more than 45 years ago in a New Hampshire basement, Amherst Label continues to see significant growth. Calvetti, Jr. took the reins of the business after his father’s death in 1982 and leveraged his background in finance and accounting to invest in the business, relying on label experts, an inspired salesforce, and new equipment, which included Mark Andy and Profiteer presses, to help drive growth.Amherst Label has found success serving a wide range of markets, with food being the company’s top market served. Beverages, household, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals also are a key part in the company’s book of business. Amherst Label’s 100% inspection capabilities enable the company to ensure its customers receive defect-free, immaculate labels.
With encouragement and investment from Inovar, Amherst Label has also expanded into RFID labeling and installed a machine from Mühlbauer to deliver RFID-tagged labels in a wide range of markets. Customer service in these markets has been pivotal, as 50-60% of Amherst Label’s business comes from referrals.
Amherst Label’s president, Nye Hornor, joined the company in 1997. “My job from the start was to go out and find customers, since we weren’t a big company at the time,” says Hornor. “I started building relationships and getting new opportunities and bigger customers. From there, we just kept growing the business.”
The label converter subsequently outgrew its two facilities in Amherst, NH, prompting a move to Milford, NH, in 2005. Amherst Label purchased its current 35,000 square-foot space. The company has also nearly doubled its staff, from 30 employees when Hornor started to 55 full-time employees today.
Joining Inovar served as a continuation to building a strong team. “It was an opportunity for us to join a company that we align with to help us grow, to get us to the next level and give us the opportunity to compete,” says Hornor. “We’ve seen a lot of mergers and acquisitions in the label business, and I think this was the right move at the right time for us, and the support has been great.”
Part of a Team
The ability to work alongside the other Inovar platforms has also benefited Amherst Label. “With the growth of our business, we needed capacity,” comments Hornor.Inovar has created pathways for Amherst Label and its other business units to share best practices with each other to drive growth, add new capabilities, strengthen their existing services, and expand their footprint.
“Being part of Inovar has been awesome. We’re super happy to be a part of the company,” shares Hornor. “It’s exciting because we’re all on the same page. We’ve got some amazing business leaders running each location, all fostering the same collaborative culture.”
A Sustainability Success Story
Amherst Label has undertaken numerous initiatives to ensure the company promotes sustainability and emphasizes environmental friendliness in its operations. “We have a sustainability team that explores what we can do next to be more sustainable and lower our carbon footprint,” comments Horner.Amherst Label won a Calvin Frost Sustainability Leadership Award for 2023 in the Trailhead category. Presented by TLMI at its Annual Meeting, the “Frosties” are awarded to label converters in recognition of increased sustainability in product development and operations. The coveted award recognized Amherst Label for using a liner recycling program. “That was powerful to win the Frosty Award,” states Hornor. “I was really proud to walk up there and accept that award. It’s something that’s really important to our country, and important to the world.”
Currently focusing on clear release liner, Amherst Label is collecting liner at several locations across New England. After a full truck load of liner is accumulated, the material is then recycled. “We’ve taken part in RafCycle, where UPM Raflatac will take back our liner,” explains Hornor.
“We have a metal dumpster where we recycle all of our metal. We recycle our batteries, we recycle our lights, we collect our universal waste and call a company to pick that up. We also have 306 solar panels on top of the building collecting electricity,” he adds.
The use of data collection, especially with tracking waste, has been paramount in ensuring a lower carbon footprint. Molly Atkinson, a chemical engineering student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, helped with data collection and calculations as part of a summer internship. Inovar utilizes the EcoVadis platform to help track this data and meet sustainability goals.