Bemis Company, Inc.

Type: Public Company
Address: One Neenah Center, 4th Floor, Neenah, Wisconsin, 54956-3087, U.S.A.
Telephone: (920) 727-4100
Fax: (920) 527-7600
Web: http://www.bemis.com
Employees: 15,736
Sales: $3.64 billion (2006)
Stock Exchanges: New York
Ticker Symbol: BMS
Founded: 1858 as J. M. Bemis and Company, Bag Manufacturers
Incorporated: 1885 as Bemis Bro. Bag Company
NAIC: 322221 Coated and Laminated Packaging Paper and Plastics Film Manufacturing; 322222 Coated and Laminated Paper Manufacturing; 322223 Plastics, Foil, and Coated Paper Bag Manufacturing; 322224 Uncoated Paper and Multiwall Bag Manufacturing; 326111 Plastics Bag Manufacturing; 326112 Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet (Including Laminated) Manufacturing
SIC: 2671 Paper Coated & Laminated - Packaging; 2672 Coated & Laminated Paper Nec; 2673 Bags - Plastics, Laminated & Coated; 2674 Bags - Uncoated Paper & Multiwall

Bemis Company, Inc., is the leading maker of flexible packaging in the Americas as well as one of the top providers of pressure-sensitive materials in the United States and Europe. The company's main market is the food industry, but Bemis also provides products for consumer goods, the agribusiness industry, printing applications, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. Bemis's flexible packaging business, responsible for more than 80 percent of the firm's overall revenues, produces such food-related flexible packaging as candy wrappers, condiment packets, see-through resealable cheese packaging, plastic bags for bakery products, cook-in bags for frozen vegetables, and stand-up pouches for a variety of prepared foods. Dominant positions are maintained in the United States in meat and cheese packaging, bakery packaging, and confectionary and snack product packaging. The pressure-sensitive materials that Bemis produces include paper and film for labels and decorative signage as well as microthin film adhesives. Bemis operates 55 manufacturing facilities in ten countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Approximately one-third of sales are generated outside the United States.

19th-Century Bag-Making Beginnings

Judson Moss Bemis founded the company in St. Louis in 1858. Born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in 1833, Judson Moss Bemis spent part of his early childhood in New York state. He and his family moved to Illinois in 1838. Bemis flexed his entrepreneurial bent at an early age while working in Chicago as a shipping clerk and dabbling regularly in assorted enterprises, including real estate investment. Determined to launch a permanent business of his own, he contacted his cousin, Simeon Farwell, owner of a modestly successful bag factory. After touring Farwell's factory a few times, Bemis decided to enter the industry himself, with St. Louis as his headquarters. His cousin, though unable to invest money in the new venture, was willing to supply the necessary machinery for start-up operations in exchange for one-third ownership. Thus, at 25, Bemis became his own boss, launching J. M. Bemis and Company, Bag Manufacturers with a pooled investment of $4,000.

The city of St. Louis soon proved an especially fortunate choice, for it had lately become the hub of trade for points both north and south along the Mississippi River and also benefited from tributary traffic stemming from the Missouri and Illinois Rivers. Until 1866, when H. and L. Chase (considered the country's first bag company) opened a branch factory in St. Louis, Bemis had no serious competition. Indeed, there were at that time few bag manufacturers in any part of the country, and none that offered the type of mechanized printing Bemis was planning. In order to overcome lingering skepticism among his customers that the neatly printed, machine-sewn, cotton bags were as sturdy as the more commonplace hand-sewn ones, Bemis guaranteed all his bags against ripping. The company's staff of four was soon filling orders and, after Bemis had sent circulars to most of the city's flour millers, the factory was operating at capacity. Inexpensive, custom-printed Bemis bags saved millers the time-consuming, messy task of stenciling and also appealed to the average consumer, long accustomed to buying flour in cumbersome wooden barrels.

By the end of its first year, the company was only marginally profitable, despite producing bags at the rate of 4,000 per day, and the owner was in desperate need of additional help and capital. Coincidentally, Farwell had written Bemis asking if a Harvard-educated relative, Edward J. Brown, might be able to come to St. Louis and work at the factory on a trial basis. Bemis agreed, provided that Brown become an equal partner in the business. Brown's diligence as a salesperson and bill collector noticeably enhanced the company's growth, but not to the point that it could sustain three partners; within two years, it was decided that Farwell should bow out.

The company's name then became Bemis and Brown, reflecting its two owners. With the advent of the Civil War, business accelerated, though bank failures and currency fluctuations created numerous headaches for the firm. A premium of 5 to 15 percent was being charged for Missouri state bank currency by Eastern exchanges at this time. In an effort to obtain the best possible exchange rates for his raw materials, Bemis directed Brown to open an office in Boston, their principal East Coast market. The company also gained an advantage from its entry into the sale of raw cotton, a commodity whose price skyrocketed during the war. Profits from this sideline business helped finance the growth of the company, which began to focus increasingly on burlap production, first of gunnysacks, made from secondhand bags used to ship linseed from Calcutta, and then original burlap sacks, made from imported jute fiber.

In 1867, Bemis's elder brother, Stephen A. Bemis, joined the firm. By 1870, Stephen had become a partner and was responsible for overseeing both manufacturing and selling in St. Louis. Judson Moss Bemis was thus able to join Brown in Boston, where he could more closely involve himself with commodity purchases and the financing of operations. Ultimately unhappy with his partner's managerial style, Bemis requested in 1873 that Brown state his conditions for relinquishing his part-ownership of the business. As biographer William C. Edgar wrote, "So great was Mr. Bemis's faith in the future of the business he had founded that although the sum must have seemed enormous to him ... he did not hesitate to buy Mr. Brown's share of it for the figure he asked--three hundred thousand dollars."

Now named Bemis Bro. and Company (changed to Bemis Bro. Bag Company in 1885, when the firm was incorporated), the bag manufacturer was steadily outshining its competition. By the early 1880s, with still just one factory, it ranked second in volume in the nation to an older, four-factory rival. Prodigious growth via geographic expansion would make Bemis number one in the world by the close of the 19th century.

Significantly, Bemis's first branch factory was opened in 1881 in Minneapolis, the city destined to serve as the company's headquarters from 1963 to 2005. The evolution of agriculture and the advent of railroad networks had transformed the milling trade into a vital national industry. Minneapolis, the Mill City, had become the industry's new mecca with the rise of Pillsbury, General Mills, and other major concerns.

After its expansion into Minneapolis, Bemis established bag factories in Omaha (1887); New Orleans (1891); Superior, Wisconsin (1896); San Francisco (1897); Indianapolis (1900); Memphis (1900); Kansas City (1903); Seattle (1905); Houston (1906); and Winnipeg (1906). In addition, the company began operation in 1896 of a bleachery in Indianapolis for finished bag goods, and opened a cotton mill near Jackson, Tennessee, in 1900. The company-sponsored village that arose by the mill was eventually dubbed Bemis. This last development was designed to augment the production of the Home Cotton Mills, which had been established in 1870 as a separate corporation, incorporated in 1885, and taken over by Bemis in 1902.

The Second and Third Generations of Family Leadership

Judson Moss Bemis's son, A. Farwell Bemis, assumed the presidency upon his father's retirement in 1909. In the foreword to Edgar's biography of his father, A. Farwell Bemis wrote that his father's "most remarkable quality of all was his progressiveness, the pioneering instinct. To the very end, progress was what interested him, the latest machine, the latest way." Although Bemis had retired, save for his service as a director, this instinct was certainly evident when the company's principals ventured into jute manufacturing in 1912 through the Angus Jute Company of Calcutta. At the time, Judson Moss Bemis recognized the commodity burlap as particularly valuable, a material that was "king of its kind."

Even more forward-thinking than this joint development was Bemis's entry a year later, at a time when textiles were practically the only packaging materials being used, into paper milling and paper bag manufacturing. Paper packaging continued to grow under the leadership of the next company president, Judson S. Bemis, the son of the founder's brother, Stephen A. Bemis. The emerging paper packaging industry was to become the company's bread-and-butter business, particularly during and immediately after World War II. At that time the scarcity of cotton and burlap coincided with a steadily mounting production of paper, particularly in the South. Interestingly, other raw material shortages during the war led to the development of polyethylene, a highly versatile substance that would soon carry the company to its next technological plateau: plastic film packaging. Successfully leading the company through the World War II years and on into the start of its involvement with plastics and pressure-sensitive materials was F. Gregg Bemis. A grandson of the founder, F. Gregg Bemis managed the company from 1940 to 1960.

Although Bemis still continued to produce cotton and burlap in the 1950s and 1960s, its central product base had shifted decidedly toward paper, plastics, and custom-made packaging machinery, the latter business having been launched in the 1930s. In 1952 the company made a firm commitment to research and development with the construction of its own research laboratory and pilot plant in Minneapolis. Seven years later, it inaugurated a long-range growth program to broaden its product lines and seek new, compatible markets.

Heady growth under Judson (Sandy) Bemis, another grandson of the founder, characterized the 1960s. It was also during this decade that the company consolidated its headquarters in Minneapolis. By 1965, to reflect the company's growing diversity, the name was officially changed from Bemis Bro. Bag Company to Bemis Company, Inc. In 1966 Bemis common stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Between 1959 and 1969 some 20 acquisitions were made. One of the most important was New London, Wisconsin-based Curwood, Inc., a producer of protective film packaging for cheese and other perishable foods purchased in 1965. The addition of Curwood helped launch Bemis into its leadership position in coated and laminated films. Morgan Adhesives Company, or MACtac, established in Stow, Ohio, 1959, also showed excellent growth as a pressure-sensitive materials supplier. Among other acquisitions of the period that were retained longer term, Hayssen Manufacturing Company was a particularly successful one. Acquired in 1966 to broaden the company's offering of packaging machinery, Hayssen eventually produced several types of state-of-the-art equipment that were compatible with many Bemis packaging materials. Many of the acquisitions of this era, however, proved to be a poor fit with the company's key businesses. According to Pamela Sherrid in a 1982 Forbes article, "a multitude of nowhere diversifications" persisted within the company, endangering its long-term health.

Launch of Restructuring Under First Nonfamily Leader

In 1978 Howard Curler was named Bemis's new CEO, the first company leader to come from outside the Bemis family. With Curler's appointment, the restructuring of Bemis began in earnest. Curler had come to Bemis from Curwood, a firm that he had cofounded (with Bob Woods) in 1958. When Bemis acquired Curwood in 1965, Curler stayed on as head of his company, which became a leader in polymer manufacture and the related technologies of extrusion, coating, laminating, metallizing, and printing. Following his appointment as head of Bemis, Curler continued to focus on these areas, as well as pressure-sensitive materials, while divesting the company of its textile, publication printing, vinyl wall covering, and other extraneous operations. Within four years, more than $100 million worth of businesses were sold. Curler also launched a $140 million capital expenditure program in 1980, in effect betting close to half of the company's assets to become a first-class producer, rather than converter, of sophisticated multilayer films for high-margin, specialty food products.

By 1990, if not earlier, Curler's bet had paid off. A Barron's report that year declared Bemis a company "with few peers in the field of flexible packaging," noting that "in almost any area of film or plastic packaging, Bemis is either a major player or staking out a position." Heavy capital investment continued to distinguish Bemis during the early 1990s under Curler's protégé, CEO John Roe (son-in-law of Sandy Bemis). The company also began pursuing acquisitions that placed Bemis in a dominant market position. For example, the purchase of Milprint, Inc., of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in late 1990 made the company a leading supplier in printed packaging for the candy industry. Likewise, the acquisition of the bakery division of Princeton Packaging, Inc., in February 1993 placed Bemis at the top in bread packaging. Also in 1993, Bemis continued its strategy of narrowing its focus on its main businesses by divesting two noncore rigid packaging businesses, Louisiana Plastics, Inc., and the Nashua Division. That year saw the company's string of annual increases in net earnings interrupted because of a $21 million charge taken for a restructuring of its flexible packaging operations. One nylon resin production plant was shut down and two paper packaging plants were consolidated into larger facilities as these actions resulted in around 260 jobs being eliminated from the payroll. Revenues, in the meantime, increased for the 11th straight year, hitting $1.2 billion.

Throughout the 1990s Bemis spent around $1 billion on capital expenditures and acquisitions. In January 1994 Bemis acquired the Fitchburg Coated Products unit of Technographics Inc. Amalgamated into MACtac, Fitchburg, a producer of pressure-sensitive materials based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, provided MACtac with an entry into the eastern United States. Fitchburg had generated annual sales of around $80 million. In flexible packaging, that same January, Bemis gained a foothold in the medical packaging market by acquiring Chicago-based Hargro Health Care Products. In October 1995 another Wisconsin company was acquired, Banner Packaging, Inc., a firm based in Oshkosh that specialized in films, flexographic printing, and bag conversion and had annual revenues of about $60 million. Bemis more than doubled the size of its medical packaging business by purchasing the Perfecseal Healthcare Packaging Division of PM Co. in April 1996. A $65 million a year business, Perfecseal produced flexible packaging for the disposable sterile medical device industry at plants in Philadelphia, Northern Ireland, and Puerto Rico. Next, Bemis further bolstered its flexible packaging business by acquiring Paramount Packaging Corporation for around $53 million. With annual revenues of about $130 million, Chalfont, Pennsylvania-based Paramount had particularly strong positions in packaging for disposable diapers and for confectionery products. This deal also further expanded Bemis internationally as Paramount operated a plant in England along with its domestic plants in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.

As Bemis's packaging operations grew, its packaging machinery businesses were an increasingly marginal part of the company, generating only about 5 percent of overall sales by 1996. Thus, after selling its business that produced paper-packaging machinery in 1996, Bemis the following year offloaded the remainder of its packaging machinery businesses, including Hayssen Manufacturing, to Barry-Wehmiller Group, Inc., for $39 million. Continuing to look for ways to make its operations more efficient, Bemis later in 1997 restructured its multiwall paper bag business by closing two of its plants--a move that eliminated the jobs of around 300 employees--and transferring the work to its remaining four plants in this sector. This streamlining shaved about $8 million off the company's net income for the year, which totaled $107.6 million and was up about 6 percent over the previous year. Revenues surged more than 13 percent that year, reaching a record $1.88 billion.

The globalization wave of the late 20th century meant that the operations of many of Bemis's key customers were turning increasingly multinational. It was therefore prudent for Bemis to likewise position itself as a multinational packaging supplier, one able to serve its customers worldwide. Two key deals from 1998 aided greatly in moving the company in this direction. In February of that year, Bemis acquired a 33 percent stake in the flexible packaging business of Brazil-based Dixie Toga, S.A., the largest supplier of flexible packaging in South America. This investment resulted in the formation of the joint venture Itap Bemis Ltda. After securing a platform for growth in South America, Bemis next turned to Europe, where it purchased Techy International S.A. in June 1998. Based in Charleroi, Belgium, Techy produced flexible packaging from its manufacturing and sales bases in Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom. Bemis ended the 1990s strongly, with record net income of $114.8 million on revenues of $1.96 billion, another all-time high.

Further Series of Acquisitions in the Early 21st Century

In 2000, when sales passed the $2 billion mark for the first time, Jeffrey H. Curler, the son of Howard Curler, was named CEO, succeeding Roe, who remained chairman. A 27-year company veteran, the younger Curler had served as president since 1996 and as COO since 1998. The new leader quickly made his mark by engineering the company's largest acquisition to that point, the $226.2 million purchase of the specialty plastic films business of Chicago-based Viskase Companies, Inc. This deal pushed Bemis into a new sector of flexible packaging for the food industry: shrinkable bags, films, and cook-in bags for producers of fresh beef, pork, poultry, and cheese. Importantly, the Viskase operations acquired were multinational, including plants in Iowa, Oklahoma, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. These operations had annual sales of approximately $150 million. Bemis also bolstered its pressure-sensitive materials side via the September 2000 purchase of Kanzaki Specialty Papers, Inc., a firm based in Ware, Massachusetts, that supplied printers with direct thermal pressure-sensitive products for labels used for bar coding, shipping and inventory labeling, and other end uses.

A further series of deals cemented Bemis's position as the largest producer of flexible packaging in North America and provided additional platforms for overseas growth. In September 2001 the company purchased Duralam, Inc., a supplier of films for packaging meat, cheese, candy, and other food products. Duralam, which had annual sales of around $55 million, ran plants in Appleton and Neenah, Wisconsin, adding to Bemis's large presence in the northeastern corner of that state. Bemis next acquired the global Clysar shrink-film business from E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in July 2002 for $142 million. This business, subsequently renamed Bemis Clysar, Inc., produced premium films used for shrink-wrapping compact discs, electronics, paper products, and other consumer goods. A $100 million business, Clysar operated plants in Clinton, Iowa, and Le Trait, France. Bemis gained an even larger presence in Europe later in 2002 when it acquired the Walki Films division of Finland's UPM-Kymmene Corporation for $68.5 million. Walki was a major European producer of high-barrier, nylon shrink film for meat, cheese, fish, and confectionery products. With annual sales of around $120 million, the addition of Walki doubled Bemis's packaging sales in Europe. The deal included manufacturing plants in Valkeakoski, Finland, and Epernon, France.

At the same time, Bemis attempted to exit from the pressure-sensitive materials business to devote its full attention to flexible packaging. Because of its concentration mainly on the largely recession-proof food and consumer goods sectors, Bemis's packaging business had proven relatively immune to the ups and down of the business cycle. By contrast, MACtac was a much more cyclical business and had been struggling because of the weak economy; fewer goods were being shipped, so fewer labels were needed. Consequently, Bemis reached a deal to sell MACtac to UPM-Kymmene for $420 million. The U.S. Department of Justice, however, filed suit to halt the sale on antitrust grounds, contending that the deal would provide the two largest U.S. label makers, UPM-Kymmene and Avery Dennison Corporation, with too much power to control prices in that sector. In July 2003 a federal judge granted an injunction blocking the sale, noting in particular that UPM-Kymmene had a disincentive to compete with Avery because the latter was a purchaser of paper from the Finnish company. Bemis decided not to appeal the ruling, scotching the deal.

Also in 2003 Bemis overhauled its packaging business as part of an effort to reduce its presence in the less profitable area of commodity-driven polyethylene packaging while shifting resources to the more promising area of high-barrier packaging products. Three plants in the United States were shut down as part of this restructuring, and around 325 members of the Bemis workforce lost their jobs. A further 90 employees were laid off and two more plants shuttered as the company moved to cut costs and improve the profitability of its pressure-sensitive materials operations. New products were also introduced in this area, and new marketing efforts were launched to forge closer relationships with customers.

Continuing its global expansion, Bemis in May 2004 entered into a joint venture to acquire a flexible packaging business from Masterpak, S.A. de C.V., including a plant located in Tultitlán, Mexico. This operation supplied flexible packaging to Mexico-based producers of dry food, personal care items, confectionery products, and baked goods. Then in January 2005 Bemis made its biggest deal to date, spending $250 million to acquire majority control of Dixie Toga, its partner since 1998 in the Itap Bemis venture. Bemis thus gained control of a company involved not only in flexible packaging but also in several other areas, including thermoformed and injection-molded food containers for such items as butter and yogurt, disposable cups and plates, folding cartons for consumer products, and printed beverage- and beer-bottle labels. Dixie Toga also produced laminate-based toothpaste tubes through a joint venture with the Finnish firm Huhtamäki Oyj. The addition of Dixie Toga pushed the portion of revenues that Bemis generated outside North America to more than one-third and also helped propel the company over the $3 billion mark in sales with the top line figure leaping 23 percent in 2005 to $3.47 billion; net income for the year totaled $162.5 million. During the year, Roe retired from the board of directors, and Jeffrey Curler added the chairmanship to his duties.

In May 2006 Bemis moved its headquarters from Minneapolis to Neenah, Wisconsin. The company had its largest collection of operations in Wisconsin, with 12 plants and around 3,400 employees. Ironically, this move placed the headquarters close to those of a completely separate firm that Bemis Company was often confused with: the privately owned Bemis Manufacturing Company, which was based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and was the world's largest maker of toilet seats. Also in 2006, Bemis maintained its keen approach to containing costs with the launch of another restructuring, this one involving the closure of six plants, including five flexible packaging plants in Illinois, Wisconsin, Ontario, and France and a pressure-sensitive materials facility in Minnesota.

Moving forward, Bemis also planned to emphasize product innovation. The company had enjoyed great success from polyethylene packaging it had developed for multipacks of bottled water, juice, and beer, and its medical device packaging business had performed so well that Bemis had begun exploring opportunities in the pharmaceutical packaging industry. In the spring of 2007, the company unveiled FreshCase, a new case-ready packaging material designed to keep meat fresh longer while also retaining its fresh color. On the management front, in August 2007 Henry J. Theisen was named president and COO, with Curler remaining chairman and CEO. Theisen, employed at Bemis since 1975, had at one time headed Bemis's Curwood subsidiary and had served as executive vice-president and COO since 2003.

Principal Subsidiaries

Bemis Clysar, Inc.; Bemis Czech Republic, s.r.o.; Bemis Packaging Deutschland GmbH (Germany); Bemis Monceau S.A. (Belgium); Bemis Flexible Packaging de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.; Bemis Flexible Packaging Mexico Servicios, S.A. de C.V.; Bemis Packaging France S.A.S.; Bemis Le Trait S.A.S. (France); Bemis Epernon S.A.S. (France); Bemis Hungary Trading Limited Liability Company; Bemis Packaging Danmark ApS (Denmark); Bemis Packaging Italia S.r.l. (Italy); Bemis Packaging Sverige A.B. (Sweden); Bemis Packaging U.K. Ltd.; Bemis (Shanghai) Trading Co., Ltd. (China); Bemis Valkeakoski Oy (Finland); Bolsas Bemis S.A. de C.V. (Mexico); Bolsas Bemis Servicios Mexico S.A. de C.V.; Curwood, Inc.; Curwood Packaging (Canada) Limited; Bemis Packaging Ireland Limited; Bemis Swansea Limited (U.K.); Bemis Packaging Espana sl (Spain); Bemis U.K. Limited; Perfecseal, Inc.; Perfecseal Limited (U.K.); Bemis Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd (Malaysia); MacKay, Inc.; Milprint, Inc.; Bemis Elsham Limited (U.K.); Misbe Participacoes Ltda. (Brazil); SH Participacoes S.A. (Brazil); DT Participacoes S.A. (Brazil); Dixie Toga S.A. (Brazil); American Packaging S.A. (Argentina; 98%); American Plast S.A. (Argentina; 60%); Dixie Toga International Ltd. (Cayman Islands); Impressora Paranaense S.A. (Brazil); Insit Embalagens Ltda. (Brazil; 90%); Itap Bemis Ltda. (Brazil); Itap Bemis Centro Oeste-Industria e Comércio de Embalagens Ltda. (Brazil); Curwood Chile Ltda.; Morgan Adhesives Company; MACtac U.K. Limited; Electronic Printing Products, Inc.; Enterprise Software Inc.; MACtac A.G. (Switzerland); MACtac Canada Limited/Limitee; MACtac Europe S.A. (Belgium); MACtac Engineered Products, Inc.; Bemis Polska Sp. z o.o. (Poland); MACtac Asia-Pacific Self-Adhesive Products Pte Ltd. (Singapore); MACtac Deutschland GmbH (Germany); MACtac France E.U.R.L.; Multi-Fix N.V. (Belgium); MACtac Scandinavia A.B. (Sweden); MACtac Mexico, S.A. de C.V.; MACtac Mexico Servicios, S.A. de C.V.; Morgan Adhesives America do Sul, Ltda. (Brazil); Pervel Industries, Inc.

Principal Competitors

Amcor Limited; Sealed Air Corporation; Sonoco Products Company; Alcan Packaging; Exopack Holding Corp.; Hood Packaging Corporation; Intertape Polymer Group Inc.; Pliant Corporation; Printpack, Inc.; Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation; Wihuri Oy; Avery Dennison Corporation; UPM-Kymmene Corporation; Green Bay Packaging Inc.; Flexcon Company, Inc.; 3M Company; Acucote, Inc.; Ricoh Company, Ltd.; Ritrama Inc.; Technicote, Inc.; Wausau Coated Products, Inc.

Further Reading

Alexander, Steve, "Bemis Buys Viskase Plastic Films Sector for $245 Million," Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 8, 2000, p. 2D.

Beal, Dave, "Low-Profile Bemis Sees Business Boom," St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, January 2, 1998, p. 1E.

"Bemis--A Century of Bag Making History," Industrial Supply Expediter, November 1962, pp. 1-2.

"Bemis May Acquire Packaging Firm," Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 5, 1992, p. 2D.

"Bemis to Buy Flexible Packaging, Will Sell Tapes in Deals with UPM-Kymmene," Chemical Market Reporter, September 2, 2002, p. 3.

Bjorhus, Jennifer, "Bemis Buying Brazilian Company," St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, January 6, 2005, p. C1.

------, "Bemis Halts Label Deal: Judge's Ruling Kills UPM Buyout," St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, July 26, 2003, p. C1.

Black, Sam, "Bemis Eyes New Markets for Plastic Line," Minneapolis CityBusiness, September 29, 2000, p. 6.

Byrne, Harlan S., "Bemis Co.: Good Things Come in Its Flexible Packaging," Barron's, August 5, 1991, pp. 33-34.

------, "Bemis Co.: Packaging Maker Finds the New Year a Pleasant Surprise," Barron's, April 9, 1990, pp. 59-60.

Carlson, Scott, "Bemis' Sluggish Profits Belie Market Position," St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, August 9, 1993, p. 6F.

DePass, Dee, "Bemis Buys Stake in Brazilian Company," Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 6, 2005, p. 2D.

Doba, Jinida, "Viskase Exiting Plastics Food Packaging; Bemis Buys Unit for $245 Million," Plastics News, July 17, 2000, p. 1.

Edgar, William C., Judson Moss Bemis: Pioneer, Minneapolis: Bellman Company, 1926, 340 p.

Lank, Avrum D., "Bemis Headquarters Plans Move to Neenah," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 3, 2005, p. D2.

LeBrun, Margaret, "Bemis Keeps It Fresh," Marketplace Magazine (Menasha, Wis.), May 15, 2007, p. 24.

Paul, Herb, "Bemis Researchers Find New Products," Minneapolis Star, September 16, 1955.

Peterson, Susan E., "Bemis Co. to Close Two Multiwall Bag Plants," Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 1, 1997, p. 1D.

------, "Bemis Selling Its Packaging Machinery Business," Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 28, 1997, p. 3D.

Pryweller, Joseph, "Bemis Pays $250 Million for Dixie Toga," Plastics News, January 10, 2005, p. 1.

------, "Bemis Strikes Deal for Walki," Plastics News, August 26, 2002, p. 3.

------, "DuPont Sells Shrink Film Unit to Bemis," Plastics News, June 24, 2002, p. 1.

St. Anthony, Neal, "Bemis Turning Out the Lights at Its Base in Minneapolis," Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 2, 2006, p. 1D.

Seewald, Nancy, "Bemis to Buy DuPont Shrink Film Operations," Chemical Week, June 26, 2002, p. 10.

Sherrid, Pamela, "Wake-up Time at Bemis," Forbes, June 21, 1982, pp. 50, 54.

"U.S. Court Blocks Raflatac's Acquisition of MACtac," Label and Narrow Web, September 2003, p. 8.

"With a Little Bit of Luck," Forbes, December 15, 1975, p. 27.

Youngblood, Dick, "Bemis Has a Billion-Dollar Future in the Bag: Focusing on Niches Puts Packaging Firm at Top of Its Markets," Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 14, 1988, p. 1D.

— Jay P. Pederson; Updated by David E. Salamie