Tree Brand Packaging

Tree Brand Packaging was founded in 1990 by Al Helms, a recently retired plant manager for a major steel company. Having far too much energy to relax into a simple life, Al seized the opportunity to address a chronic problem for industrial companies - sourcing "consistent quality" and "world-class service" from pallet and packaging providers. Starting small from a rented building located in the Charlotte, NC area, Al began to build the custom production model that still forms the backbone of Tree Brand's manufacturing strength. Meeting unmet demand in the marketplace, the company grew quickly, and by 1992, the first building at the current company location was purchased.Tree Brand now occupies over 50,000 square feet of custom manufacturing space at its headquarters, with sales and corporate management consolidated at this site, as well. With a jumpstart into a market that Al Helms knew intimately, the initial focus for Tree Brand was the steel industry, which today accounts for 50% of TBP's business. As the company branched out to serve other industrial and high-tech markets, Al's son Mike Helms joined the company. Mike brought four years of steel industry experience to the job, a valuable foundation for both technical sales and logistics services. The company continued to gain momentum, and in 1991, Mike's brother Chris Helms left his job as a probation officer in the criminal justice and public safety field, and brought his skill set in personnel management and team-building to Tree Brand. From the start, the Helms family has provided the core leadership team for Tree Brand Packaging. As a customer-driven enterprise, the niche market for "super-customized" pallets, skids, crates, and boxes has resulted in the development of specialized assembly technology at TBP, including jig fixtures and steel tables. Tree Brand is capable of cost-efficiently producing over a thousand different footprints for its customers, and has over 500 parts in inventory at any given time. High-speed automated assembly equipment for standard pallet sizes has recently been installed to supply Tree Brand customer demand. n addition, a portfolio of value-added services such as heat-treating, VMI, PDS-verified design, dipping, and procurement solutions provide support capabilities for customer requirements. As business growth pushed capacity, in March of 2003, Tree Brand established a second manufacturing and service location in the transportation hub of Chattanooga, TN. This 30,000 square foot facility also extended Tree Brand's reach in critical markets, increased TBP proximity to customer operations, and kept freight and logistics costs affordable. These same factors have driven Tree Brand's recent expansion into Georgia, with a full-service production facility in Atlanta. Although the primary custom packaging business and service portfolio make Tree Brand a "regional" supplier, new developments in the Specialty Packaging arena are taking the TBP product line "national". With the recent introduction of the TRU-RAIL Returnable Support Packaging System for steel products, and other industrial applications, Tree Brand is now offering its unique industry knowledge and proven technology to a wider market.