Dashing through Schwab Road
Staying 6 feet away
Through the office we go
Smiling under our masks all day…
The Wexler team is getting ready to wrap up 2020, and with that, we have been doing some reflecting on the last 12 months. I think something we can all agree on is what a year! With many twists and turns being thrown, not only at us here at Wexler, but I think at many companies, we learned how to shift gears and change focus to adhere to a new climate while still maintaining our mission.
This year began with our first round of tradeshows. We exhibited at IPPE 2020 in Atlanta, GA, where we had 400 square feet of innovative automation and stand-alone solutions for the meat and poultry industry. A month later, we headed over to the Pennsylvania Convention Center for the bi-yearly Pack Expo East, where we manned 600 square feet of banding and linerless labeling innovation. Little did we know that would be our last in-person tradeshow for the year, and perhaps for a while.
The first tradeshow to be cancelled was Diversified Communications’ Seafood Processing, which was supposed to take place in Boston, MA mid-march. While our remaining show cancellations for the year were not far behind, we quickly pivoted to a route of virtual communication and alternative methods. Like many others, we discovered Zoom. We installed computer cameras to host virtual trainings and demonstrations and filled our social media accounts with not only useful information on our solutions, but also some fun, creative ideas for getting through this new territory of “quarantining.”
If you follow us on social media, you’ve had a front row seat to all things packaging and labeling, with some added touches of things like recipes, motivational quotes to keep you going, industry-related facts, tips, machine overviews, and so much more. Hopefully you’ve caught our videos on topics such as steps to savings, packaging myths, a forecast of the packaging industry, among others. If not, you can always view them at any time by heading to our YouTube channel, WexlerBanding. And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you don’t miss a thing!
We also dipped our toes in the virtual tradeshow waters by exhibiting at PMMI’s Pack Expo Connects. The show featured a virtual showroom for exhibitors (which you can still view at https://pe.show/493), live demonstrations, product galleries, downloadable literature, and so much more. A learning opportunity for all, we found the show insightful and informative as we got a look into the future of virtual tradeshows. PMMI prepared exhibitors with hours and hours of educational webinars, success guides, good practices, and more to make sure we felt prepared for the show week.
What we’ve personally learned here at Wexler is that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. We have learned so much about the virtual world this year and we have learned that for every problem, there are solutions. We feel very fortunate to have discovered such advantages, like the increase in online shopping, which benefits the e-commerce industry, and the increase in food production and companies who need to increase their throughput; all opportunities that allow us to show manufacturers, distributors, food producers, and others alike, how our solutions can help them in times of high demand.
Despite having to limit our customer visitations, both in our office and at customer facilities, we have managed to strengthen our partnerships with existing customers, while also seeking out and developing new relationships with companies who were in need of alternative packaging methods. We were stocked with digital brochures, videos, photos, and more and have been able to maintain our goals by simply shifting our original methods.
On the Wexler home front, we have implemented many new safety and health measures in the office to ensure our employees always feel safe and secure. During these uncertain times, we have been learning and acclimating just like many others, and we’d like to thank our staff for accommodating and adjusting seamlessly and our executives for always putting their employees at the forethought. Wexler Packaging Products would also like to shout a huge “Thank You!” to all of the nurses, first responders, healthcare workers, delivery drivers, food manufacturers, farmers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, grocery store clerks, sanitation workers, postal workers, and everyone else who worked tirelessly on the front line each day during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and who continue to work for our health and safety every day. We couldn’t do this without you.
Some locations you can find and follow us are across social media – we are on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, and we have a fully stocked YouTube channel that is “packed” with insightful videos about the industry and our specific solutions. You can follow our blog, All Roads Lead to Wexler, at https://www.4banding.com, and you can also subscribe to our quarterly newsletter at www.wexlerpackaging.com, where you will get industry and Wexler updates, news, trends and more right to your inbox just 4 times per year!
As always, Wexler Packaging Products extends a huge thank you to our customers, partners and prospects who we’ve communicated with throughout the year, as well as all of our social media followers, YouTube subscribers and newsletter subscribers. You all keep us running day to day and we love hearing your success stories about how our solutions have helped you and benefitted your customers. We know that this was a crazy year that made us all take a step back and realize what is most important, and we hope that 2021 brings you even more success, savings, and joy.