Dallas Paper Company’s paper cutter from Colter & Peterson is producing big results

Dallas Paper Company may be small in size but they are big on opportunity. When owner John Merigold decided the time was right to expand large and wide format sales, he turned to a trusted partner for a solution. Six months after trading Colter & Peterson an 85-inch Lawson paper cutter for a reconditioned 112-inch Seybold model with upgraded Microcut® PLUS electronics, Merigold says he’s ecstatic with the results.

“We’ve not only increased large format but have grown our overall business as well, somewhere between 25-30 percent. And on top of it, we improved our productivity by 25-30 percent since installing the Seybold cutter,” remarked Merigold. “I love this machine. We can now trim all four sides of our 48-by-96 inch and 50-by-100 inch sheet sizes.”

Merigold purchased the family-owned Texas converter eight years ago after working there as a sales representative for 10 years. Located in Farmers Branch, just 10 miles north of downtown Dallas, the 12 employee company specializes in laminating and converting a wide range of paperboard products for the printing and packaging industry from its 23,000 square foot building. Merigold recalls Colter & Peterson servicing his company’s paper cutters for a long time.

“Colter & Peterson has done maintenance on our Lawson machines since day one. The two we still have measure 70-inches so we needed something bigger for the large format work,” he said, noting it was a big step for a company that celebrated its 25-year anniversary a few months ago.

“I spoke with Bruce Peterson and traded in the 85-inch Lawson. We not only got a great machine in return, but it came with the upgraded electronics package. Plus, their technicians and service personnel are amazing. They are extremely professional, highly skilled and they know our paper cutters inside and out. They set up the machines so we could maximize our business.”

Opportunity knocked and Dallas Paper has responded. They service local business as well as national accounts from California to Maine and parts in between. Another benefit of the Seybold cutter is that it’s providing them flexibility to take on any kind of job.

“We produce laminated and two-sided coated stock. Since adding our wide format work, we do any size and our quantity range is as little as 25 sheets to a truckload, but our niche is fulfilling between three to five skids,” says Merigold.

“The Seybold with Microcut is very fast and also gives us the capability to do work with the furniture industry. We laminate chipboard on 48-by-96 inch sheets and cut it down to size. It’s used as slip sheets and pallet covers for the backs of couches, armrests and any type of furniture. Many of those companies are switching to larger sized sheets. Because of the machine’s size, we also can trim sheets down to 86 inches and sell them to mattress manufactures.”

Dallas Paper offers a variety of printing and packaging products ranging from 18 to 100 pt. stock, with thicknesses up to 250 pt. Merigold points out his finishing units also cut a good amount of business forms work. Not only do his paper cutters reflect the utmost in flexibility, but so do his employees.

“Eight of our 12 employees are cross-trained, not only on the Seybold and Lawson cutters but with our sheeting machine too. That’s why no job is too big or too small for us. We’ve had great employees all along to handle orders as small as a 25-pound bundle or ones that fill a semi-trailer. Now we have the right equipment to do business in the wide format segment.”