Danny Lopez, VP of New Machinery Sales at The Haire Group, and Tom Staal, Director of Management Systems at Coastal Containers, have been elected to TAPPI’s Corrugated Packaging Council (CPC). The CPC acts as the governing body of TAPPI’s Corrugated Packaging Division, developing strategic plans, press products, and events.
Lopez collaborates with Haire’s global customers to develop new products, which is part of his responsibility. He has worked his entire career in the corrugated packaging industry, beginning in 2006 as an application engineer for Alliance Machine Systems International, where he designed corrugated plant layouts in North, Central, and South America before switching to sales, management, and product support for all Alliance customers in the western U.S. and Canada.
Staal used his experience as a plant floor supervisor, quality management professional, and now member of the organization’s management team to help Coastal transition from a sheet plant start-up to a full-line corrugated plant. A 30-year TAPPI member, he has long been a member of the Corrugated Board Technical Service Committee (CORBOTEC) and the Fiberboard Shipping Container Testing Committee (FISCOTEC). Staal served as Chair of FISCOTEC and is currently the Vice Chair of CORBOTEC. He previously served as an elected member of the CPC as well as an appointed member. He has served as working group chair on numerous TAPPI Test Methods and TIPs and the Standards Advisory Review Group (SARG). Staal was awarded the Division Technical Award in 2019.
The CPC includes appointed members from International Paper, The Haire Group, Menasha Packaging, WestRock, Packaging Corporation of America, Pratt Industries, Arvco Container, Advance Packaging, SMC Packaging, and Greif. The elected positions include BW Papersystems, Kohler Coating, Niagara Sheets, and Fosber members. The Chairs of the Corrugated Division Technical Committees, the YP Division Liaison to Corrugated, and the Supplier Advisory Committee Chair complete the council. Each position is for a three-year term. Lopez and Staal will serve as Member-at-Large.
TAPPI’s Corrugated Packaging Division focuses on manufacturing and using corrugated containers and associated packaging materials and products and serves as a forum for knowledge sharing in the industry. The Division comprises members who work for converters, suppliers, consulting companies, and others in the converting industry.
