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Diemaker / Diecutter of the Year
By Edward Boyle   

Robert Carter becomes the 12th recipient of the NADD's top honor

Bob Carter is a man of few words but many actions.  Carter, plant manager of James River Menasha, WI, paperboard packaging facility and a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Diemakers and Diecutters, will happily send hours discussing the operation he overseas and the successes he has achieved.

But when the conversation turns to Carter and his personal achievements, the dialogue is apt to be short and the answers brief.  That doesn't mean that Carter doesn't have much to be proud of, it's just that he doesn't care to make a big deal of it.

"He doesn't like to do a lot of talking about himself," says Dan Carda, president of the NADD.  "But I look at Bob certainly as one of the leaders in diemaking/diecutting industry."
That leadership and his contributions to the diemaking/diecutting industry resulted in his selection as the 12th Pachage Printing and Converting/NADD Man of the Year.  The award was presented at last month's NADD convention.

Carter, 48, is a quiet, unassuming man who has spent some 25 years with he same company.  (He began his career in 1963 with Amarican Can, which was acquired by James River in 1982.)  His career with American Can/James River has taken him to facilities from Neenah, WI, to Grenwich, CT.  But perhaps his crowning achievement was the start-up of James River's in-house diemaking facility--one of the country's largest operations.  Known as the Wisconsin Preparatory Center, the laser diemaking facility produces dies for all of James River's 16 paperboard packaging facilities.  Carter, the first manager of the facility, was one of a handful of people responsible for its start-up.

"I would say that the largest part of the load fell on Bob's shoulders," says Bob Kichefski, one of those who helped with the start-up and now manager of the facility.   "It takes a lot of convincing to get American Can, or any large company, to spend that kind of money.  Bob really had to carry most of the ball, as far as determining what we needed, how we could justify it.  Now I've got the easy part."  For his part, Carter saw the $500,000 project as just another test of his abilities. "It was a lot of fun.  A challenge," says Carter.  "A lot of preplanning had gone into it.  I'd like to extend my thanks to my good friends at lasercomb for their help with the system.  They did a good job for us."

Keven Carey, president of Lasercomb America and former NADD Diemaker/Diecutter of the Year himself, was working in company's Stuttgart, West Germany, facility when American Can sent Carter and others over to become familiar with the system.  What he remembers most about that visit 10 years ago, says Carey, was the quiet authority that Carter exhibited even then.  "He was a great team leader," says Carey, "The people respected him very much.  He was very comfortable with everybody of all levels in his group.  And i've seen him operating in his own die shop; when he walks around, he seems a friend to everybody.  "One of the amazing things about Bob is that you see his very light touch that he has with people, but everything he touches becomes very disciplined.  One of the things that always scared the hell out of me is the thought that Bob would go out on the open marketplace, because he would make a very devastating competitor."

Carter managed the diemaking facility until two years ago, when he took over as a plant manager of the Manasha paperboard packaging facility--just a five-minute drive from the preparatory center.  Even at his relatively young ago, Carter sees this position as the culmination of his quarter-century of dedication to his craft.  "For the past 25 years, in all the places I've worked, I always thought that plant manager was the best job in the company," admits Cater.  "It's your own little world."  And Carter likes it that way.  He is on a first-name basis with virtually everyone at the plant, and his friendly management style seems to bring out the best in his 500 employees.  "I try to keep involved," says Carter.  "I try to spend a lot of time out there (on shop floor).  Nothing happens when you're behind your desk.   I try not to spend a lot of time there."

Of course, his intense involvement with the NADD also keeps him busy.  Since joining the organization in 1978, he has served five years on the NADD board of directors and taken an active role in steering the association.  "He's a very quiet, but a very powerful influence in the NADD," says Carey.

When asked what personal goals he still holds for himself, Carter pauses for a moment and says, "It's not something I care to speculate about.  I'm happy here."

And James River is no doubt happy to have him.

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