Lisa Hirsh, president and CEO of Accurate Box Company, was featured in Forbes & Fortune magazines discussing how the company has evolved since its founding in 1944 and is still growing as it celebrates 25 years as a women-owned business.
The Total Package
Accurate Box Company CEO Lisa Hirsh leads the fourth-generation family enterprise to its 25th year as a certified woman-owned business.
“My job is to launch the next generation of industry innovators so they can take the reins,” says Lisa Hirsh, president and CEO of Accurate Box Company, one of the largest family-owned manufacturers of custom litho-laminated corrugated boxes in the United States.
Lisa’s grandfather, Henry Hirsh, founded Accurate Box in 1944. Charlie Hirsh, Henry’s son and Lisa’s father, took over the company in 1960, and in 1982, Lisa joined after graduating from college. The organization has experienced many accomplishments throughout the decades. Yet, one of the most significant happened in 1998, when Accurate Box was named one of New Jersey’s first and largest woman-owned manufacturers. While the men in the family may have founded the company, Lisa is making history as it celebrates 79 years in business—the last 25 as a certified woman-owned business (WBENC).
More than a piece of paper, the certification represents Lisa’s dedication and drive to continue to lead where her father left off upon handing the reins over to her in 1997. Though Charlie is still involved in the company, being Accurate Box’s Chairman of the Board, Mark Schlossman, executive vice president of sales and marketing and Lisa’s spouse, says, “Charlie had the desire to teach and the ability to walk away without compromising his vision for family and business.”
Under Lisa’s leadership, the company has tripled its growth since 2013, added hundreds of jobs on the plant floor, and invested $98 million in machinery and structural upgrades. This includes leading a three-year renovation project in 2017 that added 200,000 square feet to its facility 15 miles from New York City in a HUB/UEZ zone, all while ensuring business as usual.
In addition to overseeing daily operations, she has purchased every piece of equipment on the 400,000-square-foot plant floor, including a first-of-its-kind pre-feeder robot to feed boxes through one of its nine folder gluers, and a Koenig & Bauer seven-color printing press that prints 17,000 sheets per hour. She also plays a role in the company’s sustainability efforts, ongoing industry certifications, company partnerships, and sits on multiple boards. However, she insists she’ll never be the only one in the room with an answer: “It’s a group decision made by leaders in the right seats,” Lisa notes.
NEXT LEVEL
As a young woman with a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College, Lisa didn’t always have her sights set on manufacturing. “I thought I’d work for my dad for a year while I figured out what to do with the rest of my life,” she says. But family ties and a deep interest in business development, strategic planning, and packaging won her over.
Charlie taught Lisa everything she needed to know about the business, and he became her biggest inspiration and role model. With daughter Samara Ronkowitz, director of sales and marketing, carrying the torch as the fourth-generation family owner of Accurate Box, Lisa’s determination to encourage women to enter the industry is as strong as ever.
“The more we talk about manufacturing and the lack of women in it,” she says, “I see it as a huge opportunity for the next generation of women.”
See the Accurate Box Company Forbes & Fortune article here.
About Accurate Box Company
Accurate Box Company is one of the largest manufacturers of custom litho-laminated corrugated packaging in the United States. We can print 7 colors plus a UV coating in a single pass on both small and large runs. All our boxes are 100% recyclable and printed with environmentally friendly inks. We ship competitively throughout all of North America by negotiating extremely attractive freight back-haul rates with our carriers. In business since 1944 and women-owned since 1998, we are experts in creating packaging for the club store, e-commerce, and quick-service restaurant industries.
