Millcraft goes beyond paper with vendors in various fields

by Laura Bednar

Millcraft Paper Company gave the public an inside look at its facility on Rio Nero Drive this November, after moving into the new location earlier this spring.

The building is one of 19 locations throughout the Midwest ranging as far west as Illinois and as far south as Tennessee. General manager for this Cleveland location, Aaron Catlett, said the facility also serves as the company’s corporate office. Roughly 130,000 square feet is used as a warehouse to store products Millcraft sources for its clients. Another 20,000 square feet is reserved for employee office space.

In an Independence City Council meeting last year, Economic Development Director Jessica Hyser said the company would have 60 employees with a payroll of $5 million. The city offered Millcraft a 25% grant of the company’s income taxes for five years, which totals $125,000.

Catlett said the company began in 1920 and is a fourth-generation family-owned business. While Millcraft’s customers are commercial, Catlett said Millcraft is not a distributor pushing products, but rather a merchant that procures the products customers say they need.

Millcraft previously resided on Grant Avenue in Cuyahoga Heights in a 68,000-square-foot space. “We needed an opportunity to store more product,” said Catlett about the move, adding that the open house didn’t occur until November because of the magnitude of the transition.

Millcraft works with 3,000 vendors and suppliers to offer more than just reams of paper. There were 26 vendors present at the open house alone, who provided things like envelopes, vinyl graphics, adhesives and wide format printers. Many of the printers could print on a variety of materials to make signs, decals and T-shirts.

One of the vendors in attendance, Bill Himes, said people expect vendors to be a “one-stop shop,” offering everything they need. This is evident, as Millcraft has expanded its coverage to now procure beer cans, beer labels and trash bags for its clients. In the past eight months, Catlett said Millcraft has hired sales representatives with a background in different segments to get a better understanding of what customers need. One segment, for example, is beverage solutions.

“We continue to diversify and make customers successful,” said Catlett. Part of Millcraft’s mission is giving back to charity. For every carton of copy paper the company sells, $1 is sent to “Prayers from Maria,” a children’s cancer foundation. The goal was to reach $1 million by the end of 10 years, and Catlett said Millcraft has surpassed the goal.