Company
Profile- Spotlight on
Bradford Company
By: Elizabeth Nelson
History
of Bradford Company
Products
and Customers
Community
Involvement
Contact
Bradford Company
About Holland, MI
Holland, Michigan, halfway between Chicago and Detroit, is home to many unique businesses. The town is heavily agricultural with the highest agricultural value for land in the state. Christmas trees and blueberries are grown in Holland and distributed throughout the United States.
Industry is varied in Holland and everything from power boats to pickles to office furniture is manufactured there-- but Holland is especially important to the ESD industry. The majority of ESD test chamber builders are located in Holland. Chambers vary from the standard glove boxes to car chambers.
Bradford Company is the leading manufacturer of ESD safe electrical packaging equipment and the "Just in Time" packaging system. Why did Bradford choose Holland, MI as their headquarters? It just takes a quick look at this beautiful resort town to see why so many industries choose Holland as their main location!
"Tulip
Time" draws many visitors to Holland, MI every year to celebrate 
the
blooming of more than six million multicolored tulips and the town's Dutch
heritage. This beautiful 
town
is right on the shore of Lake Michigan and attracts vacationers all year long.
In fact, during the golden age of the resort industry (the 1910's) many 'Big
City' people from Chicago summered on the shores of the Lake. Author L. Frank
Baum of The Wizard of Oz spent many summers at Macatawa Park. People
came for the beaches, the parks, and the Famous "Big Red" lighthouse.
History of Bradford Company
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William
J. and Marian L. Bradford
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Among the visitors of Holland, MI was the Bradford Family. Each year, William J. Bradford's family spent long summers at a rented cottage at Macatawa. Soon, William J. began his own company producing fancy cardboard partitions to separate and cushion candy in boxes (especially chocolate covered cherries). In 1924, a year after William J.'s death, his wife Marian purchased a cottage at Macatawa similar to the one she had vacationed in and years later in the 1940's William J.'s son, William J. Bradford, Jr., purchased a cottage in Macatawa for his wife and himself. Soon after, Bradford expanded to Holland into the building that had once housed the Hollander Candy Co. (the company that made the chocolate covered cherries).
Since Bradford Company's 1924 incorporation, it has rapidly added new locations, customers, and products. Bradford currently has distribution plants throughout North America, South America, Eastern Europe, and South East Asia with the motto "Shipping across the aisle or around the world."
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Bradford
Company's current headquarters in Holland, MI
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The current chairman of the board is Jud Bradford, the grandson of William J. Bradford. His two sons, Thomas R. and Judson A. are now in management at Bradford Company and consequently, the business is in the fourth generation of being family owned and operated.
Products and Customers
Many
companies claim to have varied customers, but I don't think any company can
top Bradford Company! Their packaging systems send many different types of
products to locations around the world. When the automotive industry changed
from mechanical controls to electronic controls, Bradford Company changed
with the times as well and created ESD safe packaging. The ESD safe packaging
is specially designed to ship electronic controls for cars. These must be
static sensitive, especially since electronics represents the largest cost
segment on newly manufactured cars! 
According
to Bradford Company's website, their ESD safe packaging (known as Strata-Shield®)
is "made with a permanently static dissipative, non-humidity dependent
and amine-free surface, formulated for corrosion control and polycarbonate
compatibility. Strata-Shield® has a non-sparking surface, is abrasion
resistant and can be converted into custom partitions, cartons, totes and
specialty items. Eliminating the need for static control bags substantially
reduces labor costs associated with loading and unloading products."
This is important in a century that is surrounded by electrical equipment
and relies heavily on computers.
Just as Bradford has been doing for almost 100 years, they still create packaging for candies and cookies. Some of the other products that are sent in Bradford's packaging are: Cadillac hood ornaments, hand granade fuses, cancer drugs, race horse sperm, and circuit boards. Talk about a varied group of products. Bradford has a link to many important industries.
Some
of the products that Bradford offers are: returnable packaging, expendable
packaging, ESD safe packaging, and lineside systems. They also offer helpful
services for their customers including: specifically designed packaging
systems, prototype samples for new customers, testing and evaluating the effectiveness
of a particular packaging system, and program management to train employees
on how to use, clean, and maintain their packaging systems. As you can see,
Bradford Company prides itself on being involved in their customers needs
from start to finish.
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ESD
protective packaging
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Lineside
systems
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Returnable
packaging
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