Aim Corrugated Container
Through four decades, Aim Corrugated Container of Lancaster has enjoyed dedicated family involvement, continued growth and a demonstrated concern for the local community.Like most family businesses, Aim Corrugated Container started out small and over the years, with hard work, ingenuity and foresight, steadily grew. Founded in 1962 by Jerome D. Shine as a retailer of corrugated boxes, the company today has 100 employees. Aim now manufactures a wide variety of corrugated containers, displays and packing products and serves the Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Erie, PA, markets.
A second generation of Shines is now running the business. Jerome’s eldest son, Paul, joined Aim in 1983; younger son Kevin joined the firm in 1990. Jerome Shine retired in 1994, turning control of his business over to his sons. Today, Paul is president in charge of sales, while Kevin is executive vice president in charge of manufacturing and distribution.
Paul Shine attributes the success of Aim Corrugated to his father’s hard work, which allowed him and his brother the opportunity to expand the business.
“The first generation laid the foundation, while under the second generation, the business has grown monumentally,” he said.
Indeed, Aim Corrugated has grown by leaps and bounds in the last seven years. In 1995, a year after Jerome Shine’s retirement, the company moved from its original location in Buffalo into a new building on Walden Avenue in Lancaster. Since that time, with the help of new technology and equipment and aggressive sales and marketing, Aim’s sales have risen an average of 13 percent each year.
Paul Shine said throughout the company’s 40 years, customer service has remained the firm’s highest priority and biggest reason for its continued growth.
“We feel each customer deserves out complete attention,” he said. “Our customers drive us and challenge us to put out the best product we can.”
He points also to the spirit of entrepreneurship that he said is more prevalent in family firms that in non-family run corporations.
“Family businesses tend to be run by entrepreneurs, rather than managers. There is more agility and more commitment by family members to work the businesses with focus and direction.”
Through two generations of family involvement, the company shown significant growth, but has remained committed to the Buffalo-area community, supporting charitable organizations like the Jewish Foundation, United Way, Hunter’s Hope, Jewish Center of Greater Buffalo, Children’s Hospital, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Catholic Charities.