UFP Industries has announced that its affiliate, UFP Packaging, has acquired Advantage Label & Packaging, a provider of labels and related equipment used in industrial packaging.

Founded in 1996 and based in Grand Rapids, MI, USA, Advantage Label provides blank and customized labels, printers, label applicators and other packaging supplies. The converter serves many key industries, including beer and beverage, body armor, food production and processing, greenhouse and nursery, hobby and craft; manufacturing and automotive, among others.

“Labels are strategic to our plan to offer a complete packaging system to our existing customer base of over 1,600 industrial companies along with adding those same offerings back to Advantage Label’s customer base,” Chuck Krawczak, vice president of UFP Packaging, tells L&NW. “This acquisition continues to expand our capabilities and value proposition. In conjunction with our recent acquisitions of Pallet One and T&R Lumber, this new competency will  provide a one-stop shop for our customers’  packaging needs.”

According to Krawczak, manufacturers are increasingly looking to consolidate their vendor base as their packaging needs demand more creative, technology-based solutions. “UFP addresses these needs with our growing set of capabilities targeting a diverse range of applications,” he tells L&NW.   

Advantage Label has enjoyed considerable success. The company had trailing 12-month sales through November 2021 of approximately $19.8 million. Advantage Label’s former shareholder group and management team, including president Brad Knoth and sales manager TJ Long, will continue in leadership roles.

“Advantage Label’s full suite of labeling solutions, including equipment like Line Boss, a proprietary label application machine for agricultural containers, expands UFP’s ability to provide customers a broad spectrum of industrial packaging products,” states Krawczak. “Companies associated with packaging and tracking packages are growing quickly, and the addition of Advantage Label will allow us to participate in that growth.”

Knoth adds, “I am proud of the successful team at Advantage Label and am excited by the opportunities this transaction offers us. By joining the UFP family of companies, Advantage Label can make investments that will expand our capacity and reach. We look forward to contributing to UFP’s mission to become the leading global packaging solutions provider.”

UFP Industries was founded in Michigan in 1955 as a supplier of lumber to the manufactured housing industry. Today, UFP Industries is a multibillion-dollar holding company manufacturing wood and wood-alternative products, with subsidiaries around the globe that serve three markets: retail, industrial and construction. The company has been publicly traded (Nasdaq: UFPI) since 1993 and is headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI.