Holland manufacturer Bradford Company recognized for organic growth and profitability
(GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan) – During a virtual award ceremony on Aug. 26 The Association for Corporate Growth Western Michigan (ACGWM) recognized Bradford Company as the recipient of the 2020 Outstanding Growth Award. The annual award recognizes a local company that demonstrates sustained growth in sales, profitability, employment and community involvement. Bradford was to be formally recognized at the organization’s annual Outstanding Growth Award celebration slated for Wednesday, March 18 at 20 Monroe Live in downtown Grand Rapids, but due to the COVID pandemic, the entire event was switched to a virtual format.
Bradford Company is a fifth generation, family owned business. With eight manufacturing locations across North America, it is North America’s largest manufacturer of industrial paperboard partitions, sewn textile packaging and custom engineered reusable/returnable interior protective packaging.
The W.J. Bradford Paper Company was founded in 1897 in Chicago and incorporated in 1924, primarily to serve the confectioners industry. Over time, Bradford became the largest manufacturer of returnable custom interiors in North America for the automotive and appliance industries.
For the past four years, Bradford’s Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for sales exceeded double digits. The CAGR for EBITDA was 50% greater than sales. This success, mostly fueled by organic growth, has allowed the company to expand its international presence via acquisition. Bradford added over 450 employees globally during this time period.
Bradford Company accepts that change is natural and should not be feared. This attribute is embraced and drives their growth. With that understanding, they seek to deliver innovation to customers not only through packaging, but by using a FAST (Forward Thinking, Agile, Simple and Trustworthy) approach in the ways in which they communicate with customers, suppliers and employees.
The company’s growth and innovation stood out among ACG award nominees, which also included Feyen Zylstra and Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing.
“More than 20 companies were considered by the committee, but after careful review, Bradford Company was unanimously selected as the 2020 OGA winner,” said Joel Brandt, vice president, Macatawa Bank and ACG’s Outstanding Growth Award Committee chairperson. “With the company currently being operated by it fifth generation of family ownership, Bradford showcases its ability to adapt and reinvent itself throughout the decades of technological change.”
Bradford leadership was humbled to receive the honor.
“Given the strength of our area’s successful business community, it’s an honor to have been nominated, let alone selected, to receive the ACG Outstanding Growth Award,” said
Tom Bradford, CEO, Bradford Company. “The award shines a spotlight on our team’s ongoing efforts at our eight North American operations to listen, develop, communicate and produce cost effective solutions for our valued customers.”
Recent Outstanding Corporate Growth Award winners include Profile Films (2019), Ranir (2018), Comfort Research (2017), OST (2016) and JR Automation (2015).
Video profile of Bradford shown during the virtual event:
To learn more about the event, click here: https://www.acg.org/wmich/events/outstanding-growth-awards.
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About the Outstanding Growth Awards
The annual Outstanding Growth Award honors a local company that demonstrates sustained growth in sales, profitability, employment, and community involvement.
Eligibility requirements include:
- An operational/financial other business presence in West Michigan
- $10 million minimum in annual sales
- Demonstrated growth in sales, profitability and employment as well as continuing community involvement
- Availability to present its growth story to ACG Western Michigan guests on March 19, 2019
Each year, the Outstanding Growth Award winner is asked to provide a 45-minute presentation on the challenges faced – and strategies used – to build a track record of growth. The presentation is delivered to a sell-out crowd of approximately 400 of the area’s top executives, business owners, and financiers.
The award itself is actually two awards: a large perpetual trophy the winner gets temporarily and a smaller replica that the winner gets to keep. ACG decided to take the “Stanley Cup approach” – the winning company gets its name imprinted on the large trophy and they get to keep it for a year before turning it over to the next winner.
The winner of the Western Michigan chapter’s Outstanding Growth Award may also be submitted for nomination for the ACG’s National Outstanding Growth Award, given annually by ACG Global at its prestigious Intergrowth Conference.
About ACG Western Michigan
ACG Western Michigan is a local chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. The Western Michigan chapter was founded in 1999 by a group of West Michigan business leaders who recognized the need for a local organization to serve as a resource to executives actively involved in deal making and internal and external growth challenges in their companies. More information can be found at www.acgwmich.org.
ACG Western Michigan is a local chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. The Western Michigan chapter was founded in 1999 by a group of West Michigan business leaders who recognized the need for a local organization to serve as a resource to executives actively involved in deal making and internal and external growth challenges in their companies. More information can be found at www.acgwmich.org.
Photos in slider below Courtesy ACG Western Michigan. Tom Bradford, president, is holding the trophy.
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