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HISTORY
Hub Folding Box Company, Inc. of Mansfield, MA is a premier printing and folding carton company producing innovative packaging for leading consumer product companies. The Company's reputation as an innovative leader dates back to its founding by Francesco DiRico in 1918.
Francesco DiRico founded Hub Folding Box Company, Inc. in 1918 in Boston, the "Hub" of New England. Mr. DiRico emigrated from Italy to New Haven, Connecticut at age 14. He met an executive from National Folding Box, the first folding carton company in the United States, while shinning shoes outside a barbershop in New Haven, Connecticut. The executive liked Mr. DiRico and his work ethic and offered him the opportunity to come to work at National Folding Box. Mr. DiRico worked his way up the ladder becoming a die maker and packaging designer by age 25. After several years at National Folding Box he left the company and returned to Italy to visit his family. He married in Italy and returned to the Boston area where he worked for Stone & Forsythe Packaging Company in Stoneham, Massachusetts. Although he quickly rose to the position of plant manager, his entrepreneurial spirit and determination drove him to leave Stone & Forsythe to start his own company. Along with a partner, Mr. Angelo Libertine, he opened Hub Folding Box in South Boston in 1918.
Hub's original customers were dry cleaning companies and tailor shops scattered throughout eastern Massachusetts. The business developed nicely as their customer base expanded in the 1920s to include bakeries. Francesco's first great innovation was triggered by Dupont's creation of cellophane in the early 1930s. Hub became the first folding carton manufacturer to develop and utilize cellophane windows in tomato boxes, permanently transforming the food & bakery industry. Consumer packaging was changed forever with this innovation as consumers could actually see what they were purchasing. Hub also designed, developed and patented the first 6 pack bottle carrier. Hub's innovations led the Company to develop the "Creativity Through Packaging" philosophy that continues to drive the Company today.
Today, Hub is widely recognized for its creativity and innovation in the packaging industry specializing in printing and converting high-end paperboard and plastic folding cartons, in addition to specialty laminations of "B", "E", and "F" flute single-face corrugated. We also provide contract packing fulfillment services. Our plastic technology division designs and manufactures thermoform parts. The Company is fully integrated with high quality service departments, with an experienced staff, of in-house Graphic and Structural design and Digital Imaging (C-T-P) Engineering and developers involved with proto-typing and custom tool making.
Hub Folding Box Company Present Day
Hub has a diversified customer base with consumer end-user markets in the liquor, cosmetic, food, sporting goods, pharmaceutical sectors and media. Hub's philosophy of "Creativity Through Packaging" embodies the vision of founder Francesco DiRico in its highly focused operations. Management is committed to continually exceed customer expectations through new innovation, technology, Continuous Quality Improvement, Lean Manufacturing and employee empowerment. The Company's had carved out a niche in the graphic intensive, value-added printing and packaging markets.
The DiRico family continues to operate the business today. Five members of the third generation are employed in various management, sales, engineering and manufacturing positions. Hub operates from a family owned 300,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility located in Mansfield, Massachusetts, 25 miles southwest of Hub's original Boston location.
