$1.6 Million Investment Triples Workforce At Skokie Paper Company

SKOKIE, IL - From Fantus Paper: In a ceremony this morning celebrating U.S. manufacturing, P.S. Greetings, Inc. d/b/a Fantus Paper Products (Fantus) joined with the Village of Skokie to announce a $1.6 million investment in sophisticated machinery, infrastructure improvements and additional warehousing at its Skokie location. This investment, dedicated to supporting Fantus’ line of Made-in-the-USA Holiday Gift Boxes for Walmart, will result in more than 30 new jobs at Fantus – tripling the number of employees at the company’s Skokie facility – as well as an estimated 30 service and construction jobs.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Walmart to re-shore a portion of its Holiday Gift Box offering and support American jobs,” said Mark McCracken, President of Fantus Paper Products/P.S. Greetings, Inc. “For more than 60 years, we’ve worked to facilitate Made-in-the-USA products and have prioritized hiring and training local workers, including the new employees hired as a result of this investment.”

Representatives from Fantus joined Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen and Deputy Governor Leslie Munger in announcing the investment at the event that brought together employees, local officials and representatives from Walmart. Fantus’ effort to produce gift boxes domestically is supported by the Village of Skokie Economic Development Team, Wintrust and many local vendors.

“The Village of Skokie applauds Walmart for its ‘Made in America’ initiative,” said Mayor Van Dusen. “Through working with Skokie’s own P.S. Greetings and Fantus Paper Products, this program will result in 30 additional jobs in our community. The program also is creating nearly 30 new jobs in other areas of the United States where the paperboard for the new boxes is produced. I am grateful to Mark McCracken, owner of P.S. Greetings and Fantus Paper Products, who was raised in Skokie and continues to invest in our community.”

The $1.6 million investment is made in conjunction with Walmart’s 10-year commitment to buy an additional $250 billion in products supporting American jobs. Based on data from Boston Consulting Group, it’s estimated that 1 million new U.S. jobs will be created through Walmart’s initiative, including direct manufacturing job growth of approximately 250,000 and indirect job growth of approximately 750,000 in the support and service sectors.

“At Walmart we are focused on buying great quality products that create jobs in communities across the U.S because it makes sense for our customers, our communities and our company,” said Cindi Marsiglio, Walmart’s Vice President of U.S. Manufacturing. “We know that keeping dollars in our local and state economies strengthens our communities, encourages business growth and keeps people employed.”

Fantus has been a dedicated Walmart supplier for more than 30 years, producing Holiday Gift Boxes and more than 100 million greeting cards every year for the retailer. The Fantus manufacturing facility currently provides jobs for 120 skilled assemblers, nearly 30 percent of which directly support production for Walmart.

Image via Fantus