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

William J. and Marian L. Bradford

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."

Bradford Company's current headquarters in Holland, MI

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.


ESD protective packaging	Lineside systems	Returnable packaging

Community Involvement

Bradford Company believes in helping each community that they have facilities in, and they do just that. Community involvement is an important part of maintaining positive relations between employees and the public and helps managers and customers as well.

In Holland, MI, Bradford is helping to make the goal of a local history museum a reality. This hits close to home since Holland has been an important part of Bradford Company's history.

Bradford Company is also involved in helping the United Way and participates in the United Way Drive. Health care is an important charity that Bradford believes in and they support the American Cancer Fund and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

Contact Bradford Company

email: bradford@bradfordco.com
website: www.bradfordco.com
phone: 616-399-3000
address:
13500 Quincy Street,
P.O. Box 1199
Holland, MI 49422