Our New & Improved Process!
N.A.L. Company is pleased to introduce a better, more streamlined process for keeping track of our inventory— a custom, real-time, quality assurance inventory control program. We are undergoing many phases of this new system, called the Inventory Management System (IMS), which will be rolling out steadily throughout the next few years. We’d like to introduce you to Phase One in detail.
Phase One: The Infrastructure.
This phase is already well underway at the N.A.L. plant, incorporating supply chain management functions and integrating QR coding of raw materials, production, and shipping status. This real-time approach allows us to fully understand and control manufacturing lines to ensure our company can integrate every portion of the N.A.L. process; from sales, to purchasing, production, shipping, and customer service.
Phase One also consists of new vehicle mounted tables and scanning equipment to relay real-time data into our office. This lean process has shown its efficiency already within our shipping and receiving departments by reducing idle time for trucks at loading docks—the average load time has been reduced drastically from 25 minutes to less than 15 minutes.
With the implementation of Phase One, we are able to provide a new customer service element that previously was unavailable due to lack of technology. With the IMS, we are able to immediately determine the status of an order while a customer is still on the phone, reducing unnecessary correspondence.
Supply chain management and quality control is very important to our company’s production process. With our several different product lines, it’s important for us to acknowledge which raw materials are consumed, how much is used, and how long it takes to produce. We’re happy to report that our new program will not only reduce inventory costs, but will also create a history of saleable goods from beginning to end in the production line.
Stay tuned for details on Phase Two: Incorporating Multiple Plants and Phase Three: Customer Portals. We’re excited to share how the IMS program will build our ability to provide excellent production, quality, and service with you.
Interested in finding out how we can meet your needs and hit your deadlines? Contact us at info@nalcompany.com.
Need a hand? Check out N.A.L.’s Service Offerings
We like to excel at what we do best. Here are a few of our important service offerings and why we think they’re so great.
Since our inception, we’ve specialized in custom Laminating and specialty add-on services. This means we can mix and combine multiple materials to create the optimal combination needed to protect your project. N.A.L. Company has engineered our own water resistant barrier, which is built into our adhesive mix and enhances the laminating process to give the ultimate advantage against destructive elements. After a product has undergone our laminating process, it is protected by improved strength, stability, and appearance.
Sometimes referred to as guillotine cutting, Ream Cutting offers the ability to scale a project to better overall shape, tighter tolerance, and offers more precision for smaller cut-to-size sheets. Ream cutters at N.A.L. work by clamping a material with a block, then moving the blade across and downward to shear the material. Our ream cutters are equipped with MICRO-Cut processors, which are programmable integrated devices that streamline the machines and operators’ effectiveness, efficiencies, and quality.
At N.A.L. Company’s converting facilities, a paper product often starts with a multi-ton roll of raw paper material straight from our suppliers. From that roll, we have the equipment and expertise in slitting and rewinding to create paper rolls in the width and diameter that meets our customers’ requirements. The Rewinding process is used for many reasons, like, slitting to width, rewinding to diameters, turning rolls inside out, water damage, profile damage, and various other roll to roll requirements. Every industry has particular demands for their paperboard packaging products; from paperboard grades and widths, to coated or uncoated, printed or unprinted. N.A.L. can handle the demands for any of these requests, whether it’s needed for manufacturing, packaging, or as an end product.
Sheeting is the process of creating sheeted goods from a roll form. “Sheeters,” as we call the machines, are commonly called fly knives, and operate in a rotary fashion by starting with a roll that pulls paperboard through the rotary knife and producing a finished sheet length. Our machines are equipped with precision slitters that shear the roll to the exact width before entering the rotary knife where the finish product is produced.
Curious to learn more? Check out our full menu of services at nalcompany.com/services.
How Did Our COO Pat Leibriech Get Involved With NAL Company?
He’s happy to tell you.
“I worked during the summers while attending college at Ohio University. First at Barn Manufacturing and then at NAL during the transition to Mt Orab. My father and NAL’s founder Norm Leibreich started my brothers and I in the business by filling orders, teaching us to run the machines, and how to expand the company’s abilities. This helped me realize you can’t understand the complete process unless you have a good basic knowledge of how things run. Once I began working full time, I was in charge of managing the inventory and scheduling the orders.
“My favorite part of my job is getting to work with my brothers. Once, I was concentrating on nailing down a new and better inventory process. I was getting frustrated that things were not adding up in my ledger book. My brother Mike walked in, listened to my frustrations for a minute, then proceeded to drive a large nail through my ledger book and into my desk. ‘There,’ he said. ‘It’s nailed down, now let’s go get a beer.’
“On a typical day, my role is to oversee the flow of materials and orders through the various manufacturing processes. I match the best fit of materials to fill the orders on hand while minimizing scrap. Schedules are set and they flow through the plant to the different machines which produce our various finished products. We do whatever is necessary to get the product to the customer in a timely manner.
It’s been 45 years since I started at NAL, but I haven’t forgotten how to run the different machines. There are times I will run orders myself to get the project finished. We are a hands-on type of company and family. It is so valuable for my team members to see me sweat, because they know you are just as involved with the finished product as they are.
“I am incredibly proud that we have made this a family business. We are a family that centers our values on teamwork and camaraderie. Each and every one of us has our own specialty that we bring to form NAL. Company. We are all dedicated to fulfilling the company’s mission and operating under our core value of Packaging Heritage.”
–Pat Leibreich, Chief Operations Officer at N.A.L. Company, Inc.
Ever wonder how rewinding works at NAL? Let us tell you.
Being able to provide a rewinding service is invaluable for many of our clients. Though rewinding is less the 5% of our business, that 5% to customers in need is invaluable. We are able to bring what appears to be completely damaged and worthless material back to life with minimal loss, reasonable cost, and quick turnarounds. In these days, no one can write off loss to damage. That is why our rewinding service is so beneficial.
The development of this service was truly a community effort, and can be traced back to the beginning roots of our company. Norman A Leibreich, our founder and Father, encouraged all his sons to work together in multiple facets. Tom Leibreich (CTO) and Mike Leibreich (CEO) conducted much of the design and engineering. Tim Leibreich (CTO) and Norm (Retired VP) cohesively developed sales and marketing. Pat Leibreich (COO) and Norman (Deceased founder) worked on the implementation and order process. The team effort allows us to offer this valuable process to our clients.
Here’s how it works.
Rewinding and roll slitting is essentially a shearing operation. The process begins by cutting a parent roll of material into narrower children rolls. In rewind slitting, the web is unwound and run through the machine, passing through slitters, before being rewound on one or more shafts to form narrower rolls. For rewind slitting, the machine used is called a slitter re-winder, a slitter or a slitting machine (these names are used interchangeably for the same machines).
The key to quality wound rolls is the winding nip. The winding nip is a roller, driven or idling that remains in contact with the winding roll throughout its buildup. The winding nip has many aliases, including lay-on roller, pack roller, surface roller, and contact roller.
Interested in learning more? Give us a shout at here. Our knowledgeable team members will be happy to help.
Meet Our COO, Patrick Leibreich
From filing orders to operating a company that esteems teamwork and camaraderie, Pat Leibreich is dedicated to fulfilling the company’s mission that continues to enhance their packaging heritage. It was 45 years ago when Pat started to work at N.A.L. Company, Inc. during the summer while attending college at Ohio University. His father taught him how to run the machines, file orders, and how to expand the company’s abilities. “This helped me realize you can’t understand the complete process unless you have a good basic knowledge of how things run. Once I began working full time, I was in charge of managing the inventory and scheduling the orders,“ says, Pat.
On a typical day, Pat oversees the flow of materials and orders through the various manufacturing processes. He matches the best fit of materials to fill the orders on hand while minimizing scrap. After schedules are set, they flow through the plant to the different machines to produce various finished products. He ensures that the N.A.L. does whatever is necessary to get the product to the customer in a timely manner.
“It’s been 45 years since I started at N.A.L., but I haven’t forgotten how to run the different machines. There are times I will run orders myself to get the project finished. We are a hands-on type of company and family. It is so valuable for my team members to see me sweat because they know you are just as involved with the finished product as they are.
My favorite part of my job is getting to work with my brothers. Once, I was concentrating on nailing down a new and better inventory process. I was getting frustrated that things were not adding up in my ledger book. My brother Mike walked in, listened to my frustrations for a minute, then proceeded to drive a large nail through my ledger book and into my desk. ‘There,’ he said. ‘It’s nailed down, now let’s go get a beer.’”
Pat’s hard work ethic and commitment to producing the best product necessary for the customers exemplifies one important value that has been passed down each generation and that is integrity.