History: 50 Years of Excellence

Just like many other successful small businesses of today, Alois Box has very humble beginnings. One man's tenacity, desire and passion for the business created an environment where the business flourished. It was March of 1953 when Alois Box planted its roots in the basement of its founder, Michael Alois.

For three years, Mr. Alois singlehandedly toiled to sculpt the backbone of his box company. Having worked in the packaging business, he recognized that a high service-intensive sheet plant would thrive and prosper. The effort started to pay off. In 1956, a facility was rented in Berwyn, IL to house the growing operation. Another three years of hard work and growth followed before the business again moved to a larger rented facility on Ruby Street in Melrose Park. The 10,000 square foot facility easily accomodated the company's employees.

The decade that followed continued to bring together the right mix for further growth and expansion. In 1964, Mr. Alois reached another critical milestone for his business. A major goal he had set was reached. The business would move once again--this time to a privately owned, newly constructed facility on 15th Avenue in Melrose Park. The new 35,000 square-foot building would easily accommodate the company's 50 employees. A few years later, the company purchased a Flexo Folder Gluer. At the time, this acquisition was truly a distinguishing factor. Alois Box became the first sheet plant in the greater Chicago metropolitan area to have this type of machine.

The service focus of the company never faltered. It was the desire to always distinguish itself with its service deliverables that guided the company. In 1976, the decision was made to purchase a corrugator. This decisionwas also relatively unprecedented for a company the size of Alois Box. Again the impetus behind it was to establish itself on the leading edge of response time. The corrugator operation was set up to have frequent production changes enabling Alois to make small runs and deliver next day if necessary. Customers became accustomed to getting 2 to 3 day delivery when the norm was two weeks. The corrugating operation was housed in our current location on Mannheim Road in Melrose Park.

A few years of economic instability followed. Mr. Alois determined that it was not prudent to continue to run two facilities. In 1978, the 15th Avenue operation was relocated to Mannheim Road. The 50,000 square-foot facility easily accommodated the operation and offered room for continued growth.

Alois Box continued to stay focused on the service concept it was founded on. Recognizing that computers and automation greatly enhanced productivity and customer response time, a decision was made to invest in a system specifically designed for the industry to assist in the quotation, order processing, and manufacturing processes. Consequently, Alois Box became the second installation of the Harry Rhodes System.

The early 1980s also continued to introduce other forms of automation to Alois. Electronic forklifts were purchased and a B-flute station was added to the corrugator. A Ward Rotary Die Cutter was added to strengthen our ability to service a wide spectrum of our customers' corrugated needs.

Another spurt of improvements began in 1995 and continued growth through 2003. These included a 9000 square-foot warehouse addition, a CAD system and computerized cutting table for the design department, a new scrap-handling system, and the replacement of every corrugator component expanding the machine from 67" to 87".

Today, Alois Box is still passionately dedicated to distinguishing itself through its service deliverables. the commitment to that end is so real that some key customers are granted service guarantees. Our customer base covers a great variety of industries and businesses. Of special interest though is the fact that a significant portion of our business comes from job shops. Time and time again we have proven that if you must have it in a hurry, Alois Box is the place to call.