Most people probably don’t realize that virtually everyone in North America has purchased a product that Menasha Corporation helped package, protect or move. Anyone who has picked up a package of chips or a bottle of shampoo from a colorful retail display has come in contact with Menasha Packaging, a subsidiary of Menasha Corporation that has a presence in nearly every grocery store, big-box chain, drug store and warehouse club in the United States and Canada.
When the headlights of your car arrived at the automobile manufacturer’s assembly line, or when you picked up a bottle of milk from the grocery store’s cooler section, Menasha Corporation’s ORBIS subsidiary provided the reuseable plastic packaging to help it get there.
One hundred and seventy-five years after a pail factory was founded in Menasha, Menasha Corporation has grown to one of the oldest privately held, family-owned manufacturing companies in the United States. With a mission to help its customers protect, move and promote their products better than anyone else, the company designs and manufactures sustainable corrugated and reusable packaging, provides fulfillment services for nearly every major consumer goods company in North America and is a critical supply chain partner for more than 3,500 global brands.
Headquartered in Neenah, Menasha Corporation has more than 7,500 employees in 110 facilities in the United States, Mexico, Canada and Europe — including 11 facilities in Wisconsin. Though Menasha Corporation’s size, scale and reach today would be unrecognizable to its founder, Elisha D. Smith, who bought and grew the pail factory in the 1800s, the company’s unfailing core commitments to integrity, values, innovation and adaptability would be refreshingly familiar. These are the qualities that set Menasha Corporation apart and what help the company’s owners — who include seventh-generation descendants of the founder — remain proud of their company and of the employees who have shaped and evolved its success for nearly two centuries.
While few family-owned companies survive into the third generation, let alone into the seventh, the story of Menasha Corporation is a rare example of a tiny firm started by pioneers, stayed the course and endured through numerous challenges.
“In our 175th year, Menasha Corporation is continuing the momentum of extraordinary success, most notably from the last several years,” said Chris Drees, who joined the company in March 2023 as president and CEO. “Our company is a hidden gem. We are highly focused on people and innovation, and that is what makes us leaders in our industries. That’s why we’ve been around for 175 years. I know I speak on behalf of our shareholders and employees when
I say that we’re all excited to write the next chapter to this incredible story.”
1645 Bergstrom Rd. •  Neenah, WI 54956 •  920-751-1000 •  menashacorporation.com
