Joe Piper Inc.

Joe Piper Inc receives certification as woman owned business.

2011-11-16T15:06:00.000-06:00

Joe Piper Inc., a distributor of paperboard for packaging in Birmingham, AL announces they have received official certification from WBEC as a woman-owned company.

Although Ann Piper has owned the company for 15 years, the certificate gives the company official status and all the documents necessary to comply with customer request for diversity purchasing.

Joe Piper Inc, of Birmingham, Alabama is proud to announce our 11th consecutive year with a Superior rating from the American Institute of Baking. (AIB)

2011-02-09T16:51:00.000-06:00

Joe Piper Inc, of Birmingham, Alabama is proud to announce our 11th consecutive year with a Superior rating from the American Institute of Baking. (AIB)

With today’s business requirements, the need for detailed accountability and traceability of raw materials should be of the utmost importance to converters who manufacture packaging for direct food contact. Because our plants consistently score Superior in these areas plus Superior in cleanliness and housekeeping, our customers have the security of knowing the paperboard they receive from Piper is certified.

This certification from AIB takes its place along with Piper’s SFI and FSC certification.

In coming months, Piper expects to announce the certification by WBENC as a wholly woman-owned business. ( Women’s Business Enterprise National Council)

Joe Piper receives SFI certifications

2010-02-10T09:46:00.000-06:00

Feb. 08, 2010

Birmingham, AL – As part of a broad commitment to corporate social responsibility, Joe Piper Inc. announced today it has achieved certification to the independent Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI^®) chain-of-custody standard.

At Joe Piper Inc. we have a strong commitment to the environment, and so do our customers,” said Ann Piper. “SFI chain-of-custody certification plays a critical role in our environmental policy, and empowers our customers to make an educated environmental choice about the paperboard products they buy.”
With SFI chain-of-custody certification Joe Piper Inc. is strengthening our environmental commitment, and helping our customers source responsible forest products,” said Ann Piper.

With more than 160 million acres certified across North America, the non-profit SFI sustainable forestry certification program is one of the largest in the world, with a standard based on principles and measures that promote sound forest management including measures to protect water quality, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, species at risk and forests with exceptional conservation value. Through SFI chain-of-custody certification, companies must have a tracking system in place so they can tell customers the amount of certified, uncertified and recycled content in the forest products they buy, use or sell.

“At a time when just 10 percent of the world’s forests are independently certified, Joe Piper Inc. joins a growing community of companies, landowners, and social and environmental organizations who have demonstrated their environmental commitment and leadership by achieving SFI certification,” said SFI Inc. President and CEO Kathy Abusow.

· “Chain-of-custody certification means we will be able to service the increasing market demand for forest products from responsible sources, which is good for our business and good for our forests,” said Ann Piper.

About SFI Inc.

SFI Inc. is a 501c(3) non-profit charitable organization, and is solely responsible for maintaining, overseeing and improving the Sustainable Forestry Initiative program (www.sfiprogram.org), which is internationally recognized and among the largest in the world. It is one of the fastest-growing forest certification programs with over 160 million acres (65 million hectares) of SFI-certified forests across North America. The SFI Standard also includes unique fiber sourcing requirements that promote responsible forest management on all suppliers’ lands and a chain-of-custody certification, which can communicate to buyers how much certified fiber is in a specific product. The SFI forest standard is endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes, a global umbrella organization that has strict requirements for endorsement. SFI Inc. is governed by a three-chamber board of directors representing environmental, social and economic sectors equally.

AIB and SFI certifications.

2010-02-09T16:21:00.001-06:00

Joe Piper Inc., paperboard distributor in Birmingham Alabama, announces the awarding of their ninth consecutive Superior rating audit from the American Institute of Baking (AIB). Piper has participated in the AIB certification process since 1999 and has received a Superior rating each year.

Compliance standards for this critical auditing have been heightened by AIB, nationwide, in the past year in order to provide even greater degrees of food packaging safety, housekeeping and material traceability.

Joe Piper Inc is especially proud to have received a Superior rating for 2009, under the newer, higher standards required by AIB.

Ann Piper, president of Joe Piper Inc. says “our company’s participation and achievement in the AIB certification process is a testament to the professionalism, dedication and reliability our people bring to their work. It is tangible proof that our facilities and operating procedures offer our customers assurance that paperboard they buy from us is handled with the highest degree of safety for food contact and detailed traceability.”

In addition to the AIB certification, Piper has recently achieved FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification.

Founder's daughter owns this outlet for paperboard

2009-11-19T10:05:00.000-06:00

Ann Piper says being a woman business owner is an advantage in the paper industry.

"A woman in this business is a rare thing," says the owner and president of Joe Piper Inc. in Birmingham. "Because I am different, people remember me."

Piper says her business is somewhat unusual in and of itself, though. Joe Piper Inc. is an outlet for paperboard used to make such items as folding fast-food and bakery cartons.

Piper says she has never had a chip on her shoulder about not having the same advantages as men in the industry because she has not experienced discrimination.

"I've felt like I always got the same consideration as anyone else," she says.

For Piper, being a woman in business isn't any different than merely "being in business."

Her late father, Joe Piper, founded the company in 1968 when he discovered a need for paperboard distributors while working for a manufacturing company as a representative, she says.

"A customer he was selling to asked if he could get inexpensive paperboard for trouser guards for wire hangers," Piper recalls. "He made some calls and found that product from a converter who made milk and juice cartons.

"Dad realized the need to offer this kind of product. So he started his own warehouse distribution and the rest is history."

When the founder's daughter joined the team years later as a school teacher looking to make some extra money, she says she started doing filing and paper work in the afternoons.

However, she soon became interested in her father's business and was offered the opportunity to develop an export market.

"I think Dad took me on to `take care of his daughter,' not knowing if I could really accomplish the task or if I really wanted it," Piper says.

"Somehow, I just got supercharged about doing it. I got the export business going and today we sell to Israel, South America, Europe, Central America and the Far East, although we still remain primarily a domestic company."

Mims Cooper, a sales representative who has been with the company since 1984, says the paper industry is a competitive business.

"We have a lot of reputable competition, but there are a few out there that are not so ethical," he says.

Cooper says that a typical order in their business is $20,000, and it is shipped primarily based on a trust relationship between Piper and the client.

"We talk to the client and describe what we are going to ship to them, and they have to trust that we will ship what we say," Cooper says.

"Some companies will stretch the truth. The business is built on repeat customers, so establishing a trusting relationship is very important. Ann is very fair, honest and ethical."

In addition, within the company there was little if any problem when Piper took the reins from her father a few years ago because people were already comfortable with her.

"We also have a tight family feeling here," she says.

- Birmingham Business Journal, 3/30/2001