The many attributes of MiniFIBERS, INC

This past week Lawton Roberts, our COO, and I had the distinct pleasure of traveling to Johnson City, Tennessee. The home of TAPPI member MiniFIBERS.

This company started the same year the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. The year was 1967. This fact has nothing to do with this story; it is just my favorite year as a kid growing up to be a Cardinal fan.

History

The MiniFIBERS legacy began in the mid 1960’s in a small 600 square-foot workshop in southwest Virginia. Garland Keith and Earl Farmer, two men with mechanical aptitude and a knack for developing new ideas, assembled the first MiniFIBERS cutting machine in 1967 and produced the first precision cut short fibers. While the quality was nowhere near what it is today, a product was born, and a legacy began.

Today, MiniFIBERS operates out of a 150,000 square foot facility in Johnson City, Tennessee, where they produce a wide range of high quality synthetic and natural fiber products. After 58 years, they know the only way to continue their success is by fueling the success of their customers. They plan to continue to “lead the charge” by supplying the best raw materials on the market.

They work with TAPPI Division’s such as:

Nonwovens, Special Papers, Flexible Packaging and Nano Technology.

We met with Kerry Keith-President, Chris Parris-Director of Corporate Development, Scott Frasca-Director of Sales and Rhett Morris-Maintenance/Extrusion Manager.

You may recall Scott Frasca at dozens of TAPPICON’s over the years. He works with a team of volunteers to coordinate the Fun Runs each year to raise money for scholarships for TAPPI Student chapters.

Have you ever seen a holiday movie that still had snow even when it was filmed in the sizzling summer months? If so, it very well could have been a specialty product from MiniFIBERS.

They are a family of fiber specialists. They are a small company with a big passion for customer care. They value strong relationships. They measure their success by the success of their customers, and their commitment to meeting their particular needs with an individualized touch is what drives them.

As industry-leading raw material fiber specialists, they offer a variety of fiber products both natural and synthetic, with specialty finishes to match the end use, customizable to every order. They have developed unique packaging solutions to meet individual customer needs. They provide a range from small-scale to truck load orders, prompt shipping, and superior service that extends to their customers’ clients.

The Keith family continue to carry the torch that G.B. Keith and relatives lit so many years ago.  

Folks, I have been blessed to tour many facilities over the past nearly 20 years. This is one of the finest run, customer and employee forward facing outfits I have ever seen.

You could see and sense the sincerity in every employee.

For more information on MiniFIBERS go to www.MINIFIBERS.COM

For more information on TAPPI go to https://www.tappi.org/Bookstore

Remember, there are two types of people in our industry, TAPPI members and those who should be…………………………. Until next time, Larry.