Anticipating Growth: Scaling a Company with the Right Vision, Resources, and Balance

Jonathan Lavender talks about why and how Pack Leader USA grew over the last ten years.

Building a great company is a marathon, not a sprint. In TANK New Media’s podcast, Manufacturing Growth, Krista Ankenman and team tackle growth challenges. In this episode, Krista talks with Jonathan Lavender from Pack Leader USA about creating a clear vision, setting goals, finding the right resources, and maintaining a healthy work/life balance.

A Look at Pack Leader USA

While Pack Leader USA’s primary focus is creating stock modular labeling machines that meet the needs of their manufacturing customers. Doing this allows them to keep inventory on hand for a quick turn around. Using the same stock-focused model, they recently expanded their product line to include filling and capping machines.

What’s the benefit of focusing on stock machines? While most of their competition can turn around custom machines in 12–14 weeks (sometimes it can take up to 20), Pack Leader USA can deliver or ship out a labeling machine in 4–6 weeks and a filling or capping machine in 8–10 weeks. The quicker customers get their machines, the faster they can get their products to market.

Pack Leader USA’s operations weren’t always so slick. When Pack Leader Taiwan brought on Jonathan Lavender to open Pack Leader USA, they started with only a 3,600 square foot warehouse and a handful of employees. Now, with all the buildings combined, they’re around 50,000 square feet and roughly 30 employees. Not too shabby.

From Sales to Service

Pack Leader USA handles everything from marketing and sales to set up and service. Service is a big part of their business. This is another way they differentiate themselves from the competition. Their customers want to buy a reliable product at a reasonable price and get it quickly, but they also want a guarantee that they’ll be supported after making their purchase. Pack Leader USA prices competitively but always ensures quality and timely service. They also keep spare parts in stock and service techs available so that customers experience minimal downtime if something breaks or goes offline.

Investing Back into the Business

When companies strategically reinvest up to 80–90% of the retained earnings, the payback is significant. That’s why the leadership team at Pack Leader USA is intentional about investing back into the business in every way. While human nature as a business owner may be to play it safe or grow incrementally, it can lead to sluggish growth or a plateau. Serious reinvesting allows Pack Leader USA to move forward, giving them room for growth.

Staying on Top of Industry News, Trends, and Events

Lavender and his team stay connected to the industries that use their labeling equipment, such as crew breweries, wineries, CBD product manufacturers, and cosmetics companies. They keep up on industry-specific news (digital and print), attend trade shows, and stay connected with their customers. Fortunately, in today’s digital world, there are real-time resources that keep Pack Leader USA in the loop all the time. YouTube, for instance, is an easy and convenient way to see what the competition is doing. Due diligence and keeping an ear to the ground helps to keep Pack Leader USA informed and at the top of their game.

Growth Challenges

Employees either make or break a company. It’s easy to underestimate that part of business: building a good team and keeping everybody on the same page. Lavender knows how good they have it at Pack Leader USA. They’ve brought on a lot of good people along the way, but a few have been tough. The work of building and investing in a great team is hard work and can be challenging. Lavender has learned that if somebody comes into their organization that isn’t a good fit, it’s better to cut ties and move on sooner than later even though it’s strenuous.

In some instances, hires were a great fit for the company but were placed in the wrong role. Lavender has switched people around based on strengths and has promoted people from within to build continuity and understanding of the business. Doing this takes intentionality, patience, and insight, but it has paid off and often led to both personal and business growth. On top of all this, making sure each department — remember they handle everything from marketing through service — has to be sufficiently staffed.

With the amount of growth Pack Leader USA has experienced over the last few years, it’s also challenging to keep on top of physical inventory. Since stock machines are their business, the pressure is on to have all parts on hand all the time. That means not only having the items ready to go, but it also means having the space to store everything in a practical and organized manner.

Lavender confesses that he’s had a lot of sleepless nights, many conversations with my wife on the couch at night, and tons of internal discussions trying to figure out the next steps for Pack Leader USA. One thing he’s never doubted, though, was the importance of showing up every day with a positive attitude and clear head, setting goals, and constantly kicking around new ideas.

Looking back, if Lavender had known how fast their business was going to grow, he would have built a bigger building or built something from the ground up to accommodate the growth. Since this wasn’t the case, the company is spread out in five different buildings. He would have handled account and inventory differently at the start. But, like most business owners, these things are always clear in hindsight. With this experience, though, come wisdom and insight for future decisions.

Business Growth Matters, but so Does Personal Growth

For Lavender, two of his greatest joys and successes in life are his wife and his daughter, really his family as a whole, some of which also work at Pack Leader USA. Beyond that, he immediately thinks of the journey he’s been on with Pack Leader USA. From business planning to employee development to customer delight, he feels blessed to have seen it all. The team at Pack Leader USA has accomplished a lot in a short time, and that’s been an enormous blessing both personally and professionally.

Creating balance with anything that you spend time doing — be it family, business, hobbies, or whatever — developing a healthy balance between them all is critical for mental and emotional health. Balance for business owners or managers may look a little different, but it still must be considered. So, when it comes to the business side of things, make sure that your message is well-received in the marketplace, find good people to partner with, have trusted resources, and openly share your goals and objectives.

Looking Forward

Over the next five or ten years, Lavender sees Pack Leader USA continuing to grow on the labeling side and picking up on the filling and capping side. They’ve become labeling experts, but now they’re also becoming filling and capping experts. Their goals, based on predictions, land them at double or triple where we’re at now.

To learn more about how Pack Leader USA scaled their business and the tips that Jonathan Lavender has to offer, listen to the podcast episode, Anticipating Growth: Scaling a Company with the Right Vision, Resources, and Balance.

If your manufacturing company needs help gaining traction, consider creating a strategic and modern marketing plan, implementing powerful sales enablement tools, or reimagining customer service interactions and experiences. TANK New Media would love to help.