Give The Rock-Tenn Company a product, and it will provide the packaging.

The carton you scooped ice cream out of for last night's dessert, the product display for the tool you bought at Home Depot, the pieces of cardboard dividing the wine bottles in their cases at the liquor store - there's a good chance at least one of those items originated with the Norcross-based company, which is one of the country's leading packaging manufacturers.

Rock-Tenn traces its roots to The Southern Box Company, a small, Maryland-based box factory that was founded in 1936. From there, the company began thinking, literally, outside the box in terms of its potential operations. The Southern Box Company eventually became known as Rock City Packaging of Nashville, Tenn., relocating its headquarters in the mid-1950s to its present 11-acre site in Norcross. When Rock City Packaging merged with its largest supplier, Tennessee Paper Mills, in 1973, the Rock-Tenn Company was formed.

Throughout its evolution, Rock-Tenn has continually expanded its portfolio to include producing packaging for food, paper goods, hardware, apparel, and other consumer goods. It uses recycled and virgin paperboard to make these products and also converts paperboard for use in book covers, furniture, and automotive components. Other products include specialty corrugated packaging and point-of-purchase displays. The company boasts annual net sales of more than $1.5 billion and has more than 70 operating locations in North and South America.

Making key acquisitions has been a cornerstone of the company's long history of success, says Gregory King, Rock-Tenn vice president of risk management. He points to one of the most pivotal as last June's acquisition of Gulf States' Paperboard and Packaging (GSPP) business. With the $540 million acquisition, Rock-Tenn brought aboard one of the lowest-cost solid bleached sulphate paperboard mills in North America. The acquisition also included 11 folding carton plants that allowed Rock-Tenn to expand into new markets.

"The industry is going through consolidation, and (the acquisition) diversified our portfolio by moving us into the manufacturing of high-quality bleached paperboard, which the company was a large purchaser of and continues to be a large consumer of," King says. "It's all about ample due diligence, and extensive planning with respect to transition to ensure success."

Another key acquisition came in August 2004, when Rock-Tenn acquired Menasha Packaging Company, an Athens, Ala., corrugated sheet feeder facility. With the move, Rock-Tenn integrated sales and operating management at the Athens facility with the company's only existing corrugator at the time, which is located in Norcross.

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