Alpha Rho: 50 Years in Review
Since Alvan Tall founded Alpha Rho in 1965, our company has been continuously evolving and innovating to keep up with the latest advancements in our industry. With over five decades of operations on our books, a lot has changed since our first venture into custom molding. As a small testament to and celebration of our accomplishment of well over 50 years in business, we are reflecting and sharing with our customers some of the most influential changes we’ve experienced over the years.
Machinery
Initially, Alpha Rho utilized several small air-operated machines to begin molding small precision parts—many of which were products made for the medical, computer, aerospace, and toy industries. As the business grew and Alpha Rho expanded into the rigid plastic packaging industry, the need for adding more sophisticated machines to our capabilities became increasingly evident. Older machines that previously used mechanical switches, relays, and timers were replaced with digitized machines that use circuit boards to manage the production lines. The implementation of this new technology has allowed Alpha Rho to increase capacity while also improving efficiency. Oh, the wonders of modern machinery!
People
It’s no secret that our people are our best asset here at Alpha Rho—and we treat them as such. Alpha Rho has always placed a firm emphasis on keeping up with the latest standards for employee safety and has continued to meet all of the updated federal (OSHA) and state regulations. We make sure all of our personnel are properly educated on safety procedures and maintain good manufacturing practices throughout all of our processes.
In addition to ensuring proper safety practices and complying with all employee rights, we are proud to offer medical benefits and competitive wages for all our employees. In an attempt to further care for our personnel, Alpha Rho has also developed a special profit-sharing program for all our staff members. What’s so unique about our profit-sharing plan? Our employees aren’t required to put any of their own money into it! Yes, that’s right—every year Alpha Rho brings home a profit, a percentage of those earnings are shared with our employees and it doesn’t require any commitment from them.
Products
During the 1970s, a line of friction-fit plastic boxes became available which started the shift to proprietary items. The plastic box became an attractive and affordable rigid packaging solution that customers could use to display their products. Then in the 80s, a new line of hinged plastic boxes was developed to complement our already popular line of friction-fit boxes. The new line of products offered our customers the variety of choice they desired at that time.
Looking forward into the 2000s, additional items were added to our line of plastic boxes as we continued to expand our reach into the market. Alpha Rho now has a wide range of compartment plastic boxes to suit the hobby, confectionery, and hardware industries and has become the largest plastic box manufacturer in New England. Additional products now include a line of plastic trays, stationary items, and houseware products.
Hot stamping and pad printing services were the most recent addition to our facility and have allowed us to offer customized colors and logo services to our many customers who represent the cosmetic, mineralogical, scientific, craft, and pharmaceutical industries. In another addition to our capabilities, we’ve added a new anti-stat material that wards off electrical currents for our customers who use our packaging for sensitive electronic products.
Environment
Environmental concerns have always been top-of-mind at Alpha Rho. Since 1965 we have enacted numerous upgrades to our facility to become one of the leaders in renewable practices for our industry. Our latest environmental renovations and best practices include:
- In July 2016, Alpha Rho partnered with New England Clean Energy to install 745 Canadian Solar 320-watt solar panels, with SolarEdge optimizers on the roof of our 36,000-square-foot facility. As of July 2018, the state-of-the-art solar panels have saved the release of over 800,000 pounds of carbon, or the equivalent of planting approximately 20,000 new trees.
- Alpha Rho partners with local waste and recyclable materials companies to allow the recycling of corrugated carboard boxes at our headquarters.
- All of the plastic scraps at our facility are re-grinded into non-processed material, which allows the plastic to be re-utilized for other applications.
- We’ve recently upgraded to a new closed water-preservation system that chemically treats water run-off and allows it to be recycled back into the system rather than having to draw new fresh water from outside sources.
It’s amazing how much has changed in 50 years—and looking back, we are proud of the path we’ve taken during that time. If you’re interested in learning more about the significant events that have taken place on our company timeline, check out our news page!
As the largest manufacturer of high-quality rigid plastic boxes in New England, Alpha Rho has been a leading supplier of injection-molded plastic boxes, with a reputation for providing dependable plastic packaging solutions for over 50 years. Our custom rigid plastic boxes— compartment, hinged, friction fit, custom shapes—are used extensively in multiple industries, such as retail and hobby, food and confectionary, medical, and industrial. Contact us for recommendations, orders, and assistance finding the perfect look and fit for your products.
