Why Overstressed Engineers Call DasPac for Packaging Decisions

0:00 · What DasPac provides for packaging equipment and materials

Carl Holden:0:12
Welcome to What's Made in the USA, the podcast that celebrates the people, companies, and ideas behind American manufacturing. I'm your host, Carl Holden, and on each episode we meet the entrepreneurs, engineers, and skilled professionals who are building real products right here in the United States. Today I'm pleased to have Doug Soltis of DOSPAC, headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. Let's get started. Welcome, Doug.

Doug Soltis:0:36
thank you. Glad to be here, Carl.

Carl Holden:0:38
Well let's jump right in, Doug. Could you tell us what y'all make at your company?

Doug Soltis:0:44
Well, we're depending on how you look at it, we are a a a distributor, rep, or an integrator for the packaging industry. The thing about being made in America, is that there are a lots of different versions of customers that all have packaging needs. You know, and whether it's whether it's horticultural or a baking or electrical, the w one of the things that can cross-reference different Technologies is packaging because everybody needs packaging. So we do we do packaging equipment and materials.

Carl Holden:1:22
Okay, so packaging as far as like shipping packaging or more like product packaging. Help us understand what you mean or both.

Doug Soltis:1:33
Okay. so packaging from everything from shrink wrap and bundling, like you go into Costco and you get get your 24-pack, you know, machines that do that, the films that do that, the labels that do that, the inkjet that puts the labels on it, the printing color that does that, or you can say you get get a box of of stuff from Amazon, the the or probably not Amazon, but you get a box from the your d your grocery store. It brings in the mayonnaise, right? And they gotta they gotta to to automate that they gotta get a case, you gotta wreck the case, seal the case, load the case, close the case, palletize the case, stretch wrap the case, put a pallet down and get it out. That's that's everything we do.

Carl Holden:2:26
Okay.

Doug Soltis:2:26
In in the equipment, yeah, like I said, in the materials. We have and we and we work with multiple suppliers in every industry.

Carl Holden:2:34
So you're kind of the you're the packaging around kind of the logistics of all the stuff we get in stores, that all has to like move and be handled. And there's this kind of middle ground that this product all has to go through, and and you're helping assist in that through that packaging.

Doug Soltis:2:56
Correct, correct. And most of my customers are fairly large. some small, but most of them are large. because what I what what my niche is is I I basically help engineers that are overstressed and too much work, and they need a project done. And I go figure it out. I bring in the options, one, two, three options, depending on the product, and then we have analyze it and tell them what I think. Because what I bring to the industry is 30. three years of packaging expertise. So it's not when you're making a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, half a million million dollar decision, you know, all that takes time and energy and trust.

3:41 · How NAFTA led Doug to launch DasPac in 1992

Carl Holden:3:41
Okay. Now Doug, you're you're the owner. What led you to this journey at starting this company?

Doug Soltis:3:49
Well, when when I started in the packaging industry in ninety two, and when NAFTA came in, and seven hundred thousand jobs left the southeast. And all of a sudden I was going from having two or three or four competitors to nine, ten, or eleven or twelve in every account. So it was it was just crowded. I had to find a way to put myself above the fray, you know, instead of fighting over the the pennies, I wanna went and thought of the dollars, but I got smarter in the dollars. So I found out that, you know, what I figured was if I go for the equipment, then I can get the materials afterwards, but you gotta be equip e equipment specialist, so to speak. And there's not a lot of those out.

Carl Holden:4:37
So you started that you said the n the late nine early nineties?

Doug Soltis:4:41
Yeah, NAFTA, yeah, yeah.

Carl Holden:4:43
Yeah.

Okay. And then kind of what has shifted, let's say, now and we're well into the two thousands. Has the industry kind of changed or has it mostly been pretty standard as far as like what you've been doing for this time?

Doug Soltis:4:59
Well the the packaging business is is very old school and it is slow to change. So there's have been some big changes, some go on conglomerates, some people that c bought up ten, fifteen companies. There's a couple of big boys, but it's all based on trust. Really it is. It's when you're when you're a company our size and you you're and you you're selling and buying from billion dollar companies to billion dollar companies, it's all based on trust.

And it takes years to to sometimes build those relationships. Find out that you know what you're talking about, what you do, is the prices are good, those types of things.

Carl Holden:5:38
Help me understand, just curious, the name Das Pac Pac, Das Pac.

Doug Soltis:5:45
Yes. Where do they can come up with that name?

Carl Holden:5:47
Yeah, just curious.

Doug Soltis:5:49
Well it it's two that's very curious. Two one, it's my initials, DAS DAS PAC. And

Carl Holden:5:56
yeah.

Doug Soltis:5:57
yeah, and my mom came over from Germany and

Carl Holden:6:02
okay.

Doug Soltis:6:02
and I had to take German in high school. And DAS is like the the pack. So there it is.

Carl Holden:6:09
okay.

I I I kinda thought that, but I'm like maybe I'm 'cause it it seemed like German, but it also, you know, it's just funny to kinda know like how people name stuff. it's a good name for

Doug Soltis:6:21
Yeah.

Carl Holden:6:22
what you do though.

Doug Soltis:6:23
Thank you, thank you. It was before they came out with DOS auto on the whoever that was doing that. So I I invented the DOS back. So There you are. I

Carl Holden:6:29
There you go. There you go.

Doug Soltis:6:31
they never wrote me a a check or anything for it. Okay. It's all right.

Carl Holden:6:35
It is what it is. So how many people work at your company and how do you find those people? as far as like the sound sounds like kind of a niche thing. So what how do you

Doug Soltis:6:45
Yeah.

Carl Holden:6:46
find the right people?

Doug Soltis:6:49
Well, we're about 10 people. and we're small, but but that's kind of where we we where our niche is in in that we we service very high level. and so what we do, you were saying, how do I find the people? It's very difficult. It's very difficult to find people that can ultimately just step right into this because it's very unique. unique position. So the person the person that's been with me the longest been with me 10 years. and and I took her from knew nothing about business so to speak or the packaging industry. And I just normally train, I normally based on truth and trust and character. And then I just train them up. That's normally how I work. So because again trust is everything in this business. So and it is it should be in everybody's business, but maybe not in some, right?

Carl Holden:7:49
So so help me understand like what a customer looks like. You don't have to say which customers you have, but like what does an engagement look like for like actually executing on what you do?

8:04 · How DasPac helps engineers select and integrate machinery

Doug Soltis:8:04
Okay, so let me could be as easy as, hey, I need a new stretch wrapper, okay, or I need a case rector or or or taper or what one piece of equipment. And I normally bring two or three quotes. and one of the things that I bring to the table is is that most people don't know this, but eighty to ninety percent of all manufacturing of equipment in in the US ha come to the market in two ways.

They go direct and they go through integrators and and reps. And what I what I guarantee my customers is is that whatever the margin is i is i that the cuss company gives me, that's so that's what I sell it at. And what I mean by that, if it's a hundred thousand dollar piece of equipment and I'm gonna make X out of it, but they they go to lit they go to market selling it for a hundred thousand dollars, that's that's I don't I never mark it up beyond what the the vendor the the manufacturer of the equipment says. Okay. So what that does is it gives me an opportunity to compete with everybody and anybody. Because we're lean, we're we're we're we're smart and we've been doing this for 20 years. And there's not a lot of people that actually do this at this level.

Carl Holden:9:24
Now, are you helping them also integrate these machines and these automations?

Doug Soltis:9:28
Yes.

Carl Holden:9:29
So you're kind of doing the engineering part too.

Doug Soltis:9:32
Well, yes and no. we used to call it the engineering part. Yes, there are technicians and it's and layouts and there's those types of things, yes. And where the where it all goes, yes, I do that. Yeah.

Carl Holden:9:43
Okay.

Doug Soltis:9:44
So I let's say I'm gonna do a a a like five piece of equipment and they're going to do a case erect and a seal it, they're gonna stretch wrap it and palletize it, and we need conveyors to put it all together because the space is big and yes, I would do that. Yeah.

Carl Holden:9:58
Okay. And then do once the customer has the thing that they have, is there some kind of ongoing support that you then kind of make sure that this or it's kind of a 'cause you say you have fairly big customers, what what is the repeat on said customers?

Doug Soltis:10:17
Well, I I tell I have one customer that I've I've probably got fifteen or eighteen pieces of equipment in their plant today. You know? And we seems like every a and I've been selling to them since ninety two. So I probably placed a hundred dipes of equipment in that in that plant. Okay. And so so we have technicians that we can service them and if they if they pr purchase the films or materials with us, then that comes for free.

If not we we we charge for it.

Carl Holden:10:49
Now you have customers here in the US. Do you also have international business that you work with as well?

Doug Soltis:10:55
Yeah. So I do. I have I have one intern one international customer and one international vendor, I guess.

Carl Holden:11:01
Now, in kind of that same vein, many of the episodes we've kind of touched on this what have been we try not to get too political or anything, but what if at least in your industry, how have the tariffs kind of changed or altered things?

Doug Soltis:11:16
Well, next week I'm going up there to figure it out. So I I it it's so far how should I say this? I buy out of the country and I sell into k into this country and so we just do the bill paying. So we avoid the tariffs from that that standpoint.

Carl Holden:11:35
Hmm. So

Doug Soltis:11:37
It's shipped direct, but we we to handle the money.

Carl Holden:11:40
Gotcha, gotcha. So the effect is not directly within y'all's vein, but it obviously affects the budgets of the the customers buying things. Right.

Doug Soltis:11:52
Correct, correct.

Yep. Yep.

Carl Holden:11:56
So as far as Lau like things with like Amazon and the fact that so much more is just shipped as opposed to you know, back in the nineties w we all went to stores. Where do you feel like the revenue from kind of the store is it still mostly retail and B2B, or do you see kind of business from The Amazons and all the shipping stuff kind of sh changed things over the last couple of decades or

12:30 · Navigating line speeds, high-volume requirements, and tariffs

Doug Soltis:12:30
Yeah, there's been some change, but not so much in my in my world in that Amazon's, you know, a big boy, right? I mean, so they have all the corrugators, all the tape, they're all fighting over that with slim margins, kind of like Walmart used to do, or still does, I'm sure. my my customer is I don't really rate my customer based on the size, but is based on speed.

Carl Holden:12:57
Mm.

Doug Soltis:12:57
If they need 10 widgets or 10 cakes or 10 batteries or 10 whatever in a minute to up to 300, that's where I that's where my specialty is. Okay. Whether it's shrink wrap bundling, wrapping, packing, case packing, because when you go to Bush Beans, that's for example, you're gonna familiar with Bush Beans. It's only about two miles from my house, their headquarters here. And I worked with them for about 10 years ago, and they were going to buy 10 million dollars worth of shrink bundling equipment.

Well, that's when I realized that they they do a thousand to twelve hundred cans a minute. Yeah, I mean just blistering fast. And there's only four bundling companies in the world that can do that. And they can make four phone calls. You know, they can they can do that for ten million dollars, interview them and figure that out. And so the the the Coca-Cola's, the Pepsi's, the the Bush beans, those are all out out of my league as far as Not because I can't deal with them from a big company standpoint, but their speed is so high that there's very, very high speciality in that. So versus

Carl Holden:14:03
Gotcha.

Doug Soltis:14:05
you know, batteries and in cases are are are not that high or cakes or mulch or peat pots or things of that nature.

Carl Holden:14:17
Okay. Well that's that's an interesting kind of designation, the speed of which they need things done. That's interesting. So in moving forward, obviously tariffs haven't changed too much for you, but are you working as a company to can potentially add additional services or what is what are your plans for growth as far as helping are you like good where you are with the customers maintain what what are your plans for the future?

14:45 · Integrating AI to streamline proposals and customer communication

Doug Soltis:14:45
Well, the plans for the future are very similar to everybody else's plan, integrate AI into the system, right? and I'm working on that, but I'm still not exactly sure where I want to land on this. I don't want it I don't want AI talking to the customers, you know. I I I want AI to do my my my my work in the background, create the proposals, do that kind of thing that that normally some proposals can take me weeks, you know, not to do just a proposal, but conversations and this and that. So so that's what what what I I think this that's gonna happen with DOS PAC is that I'm gonna have to integrate AI so I can just focus on the customer because you know there's only when A AI I've come to the conclusion that when AI is fully integrated, there's going to be two major jobs. It's gonna be communication between people in AI and A and and Wait second. Two people between communication and creativity. Those are the only two things. And so that's what I want to gear at is how can I communicate in the creative differences between me and others and well what I can do to be creative for my cu my customers. For example, I'm working on a project now that's fully it's it's by seven bit different pieces of equipment, and I've got a quote. to I'm reviewing the market for this for them on a couple of pieces. So I'm quoting two, three suppliers on everything. So that's thirty, forty quotes. You know, and that takes a lot of time and effort.

Carl Holden:16:22
Yeah.

Doug Soltis:16:23
So I'm trying to automate those type of series.

Carl Holden:16:26
Hmm. That's very interesting. We've had a couple guests on recently, kinda in the same stage of you, figuring out what it's good at, what it's not good at, and also the complaint of sometimes it just makes stuff up and you have to be careful, because then I think there's three jobs. fact checking whether or not the AI has just gone off the wall.

Deep end it just made stuff up.

Doug Soltis:16:47
Yeah, yeah. That's job number one now that you mention it, right? That's job number one, right?

Carl Holden:16:51
Yeah. All right. Well, that that sounds exciting that you're You know, we've built a lot of work here in the US of kind of the paperwork back and forth typing things. I think AI is gonna free us up from some of that repetitive office work tasks and and let you get to the problem solving. So

Doug Soltis:17:10
Right, right. Well, I think that you know, we have a packaging show every year. we have the actually in October it's in Chicago, the next year it's in Vegas, and there's sixty, eighty thousand people show up for this. And and that's where what happened used to happen is that or still does.

That's where you s all everybody goes when they had a big project. They wait to the end of the year and then they go talk to everybody individually. So they can talk to three, four, five suppliers at once. and and that's what I I and I go there for a different reason. I go there to talk to all my vendors and make sure their relationship and work on projects we're working on. So I also see where AI can come to a to a place where we can integrate that that type of conference. into an AI and to a an app that would work for let's say the simples, the case erecting, the stretch wrapping, the things that that everybody needs.

Carl Holden:18:10
Hm. Well that that sounds interesting. I there seems to be a conference for everything. I didn't think about there being a conference for packing stuff, but there is, right?

Doug Soltis:18:19
Yeah. And you and who would think sixty to eighty thousand people show up? Yeah.

Carl Holden:18:23
Holy cow. Well, I mean, yeah, that's a big industry, for sure.

Doug Soltis:18:28
Yep.

Well every it's a it's a I read it was a it's about a hundred billion dollar industry packaging.

And that's included it's ten billion in equipment, it's thirty billion in in poly twel no, thirty billion in corrugated, twenty billion in thirty billion in corrugated, then another thirty billion in glass, another thirty billion in in in aluminum. So it's a hundred billion dollar industry in just North America.

Carl Holden:19:03
Now is this conference, just curious, both like logistics packing and but also packaging for the product on the shelf, is that the same conference or we literally just talking about logistical packing?

Doug Soltis:19:18
No, we're talking about the machines. The machines

Carl Holden:19:20
Just okay.

Doug Soltis:19:22
that package, that shrink wrap, that bundle, that stretch wrap, and you know, there's some companies that'll spend millions and millions of dollars. There's a couple of big companies that'll spend millions and millions of dollars and you could their booths will be fifty yards wide and a hundred yards long.

Carl Holden:19:37
Five.

Doug Soltis:19:38
And they all and they'll have equipment running, they'll have a millions of dollars of equipment they bought, they they purchased, they set up, and they're running while they're there.

Carl Holden:19:46
Wow. Huh.

Doug Soltis:19:47
Yeah.

Yeah.

Carl Holden:19:49
Wa one of the interesting ones that we had of stuff I didn't think about, we had on the the man who invented basically invented the cold foil machines. So it puts

Doug Soltis:20:01
Okay.

Carl Holden:20:02
all the like cold and hot foil like all the embossing on products. He makes the machines that puts that stuff on there. He doesn't put any of the stuff on, he literally just made the machines.

It's pretty interesting episode and that but there's also behind his job of the individual packages are these things all sitting on pallets that needed to be wrapped and secured so that they didn't get banged up and crushed. And and you're sitting on that layer of the logistics of this had to move from wherever it was made, or the materials like there's so much of that we don't see as customers that This little thing I have of toothpaste has been on a huge journey to get to me.

20:52 · Testing stretch film and equipment settings on shake machines

Doug Soltis:20:52
Yes, it has. Yes. You'd know the name. That a heavy product. We put a in a stretch wrapper, fully automatic stretch wrapper in there. And then their customer was Home Depot or Lowe's or something like that. And they they wanted to make sure that it didn't move. So at all. So we b b got different different stretch films. We we we wrapped them up, we sent them away, we did it on a shake machine and tested, tested, came back.

And that took you know months to get that done. To get that done to make sure that this is the stretch wrap you want, this is the machine settings you want, this is what you need for this, for the in feed and outs, and this is how many wraps. So that all that gets tested and at the

Carl Holden:21:38
So

Doug Soltis:21:38
high level.

Carl Holden:21:39
so some of these these customers you have are sort of like experimental in that you've gotta figure out what's exactly gonna work for them as opposed to some know exactly what they want and need.

Doug Soltis:21:54
No, no.

Carl Holden:21:55
No.

Doug Soltis:21:57
all right, let me tell you a short story.

Carl Holden:21:59
Okay.

Doug Soltis:22:00
years ago I was going into an account that I had business with and this do still do business with, and we were bringing in a a material handling guy, a di guy that does specialty conveyors. And I said, How long have you been with the company? He said, I've been 17 years or something like that. I said, that's great. So how'd you get into sales?

He said, Well, I used to be an engineer for this company. And he said, I got so tired of the salesman coming in and not having all the questions I need answered to be able to develop the system that they want. And I just looked at him and said, How's that going for you? He said, I can't get it. So, what happens is you have to be smart enough to go in and analyze it.

And make decisions based on what they want and need, not what the because they don't they don't have time for the specs. They go, here's the product, it's going here, this is what we need, go get And you gotta figure out the rest. And that's that's the job. That that that's

Carl Holden:23:05
Sure.

Doug Soltis:23:06
the hard part. You gotta know you gotta you gotta understand your customer well enough that you can make the decisions for them and come back and go, these are we your options. okay. And I'm talking engineers, I'm talking to CEOs, they I was in an equipment bidding war a few years ago with a company and big startup, and the CEO we we we kept trying to say we need we want to quote this, but we need these answers. And we finally got up to the CEO and he came in. We had a two-hour meeting. He said, I was told that all these, all the packaging was set. I'm like, nobody would give us an answer. And he said, You're he was so upset. I said, Well.

In their defense, these are people that are it's a startup, right? And it's very big startup, malt two, three hundred million. And you said nobody wanted to make a decision and and that what they're gonna sell in the future, right? That the the

Carl Holden:24:03
Mm.

Doug Soltis:24:04
the customer, which means how how we're gonna package it. And so that was one of the issues. And and and so you had we had to get certain just the basics down, and that we it took us three, four months to get that meeting between people.

Going after going after We need this, we need this. Quote this, we need this, we need this, quote this, we need this, we need this, quote this. Because they didn't know what they wanted. Now they do, but so that make sense.

Carl Holden:24:29
Yeah, yeah, it's that's a lot of almost kind of investigative work and connecting the dots that you're not even told all the dots.

Doug Soltis:24:38
Right.

Carl Holden:24:39
you're not even handed a pen, it sounds sometimes. You've got to go find your own pen to connect the dots.

So

Doug Soltis:24:45
I've got a quote I'm doing now for a a customer that's a big name, you'd know it. And they I'm trying to do shrink wrap. And I just needed to know two more pieces of information. And they're like, I we don't know where to find that out. This is where you go find it because they're there's seven hour drive from me. If I can't get them to do it, I gotta go up there and go get it done for but yeah, it's it's it these engineers are over taxed.

They have so much on their plate, so many projects they can't really they gotta find guys like me they can trust.

Carl Holden:25:21
Gotcha. Well sounds like a very interesting job that probably every year has some new or different thing you haven't run into before.

Doug Soltis:25:30
Yep. that that is that is the key. It's just a slightly different flavor or different option or different thing. Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah.

Carl Holden:25:38
Well thanks for sharing all of that. We're gonna pivot a little bit, Doug, and just get to know a couple things about you. what is a favorite place you in the United States that you like to visit?

Doug Soltis:25:51
I grew up in Florida, so Clearwater Tampa area. I like a lot. Ybor City is really nice. So yeah.

Carl Holden:26:01
Florida is an often mentioned state for people to go visit, for sure.

Doug Soltis:26:06
Yeah. Well I grew up down there. So that's that's also I got relatives and friends and whatnot. Went to high school down there, so yep. But I live in N Knoxville, right near the Smoky Mountains, so it's a nice I love both of

Carl Holden:26:18
Yeah, awesome. what is a childhood or younger memory of the United States that you hold dear?

Doug Soltis:26:26
Childhood memory of the of the United States that I hold dear.

Carl Holden:26:31
Things you used to do in the US, events, like something related to living and being a citizen here.

Doug Soltis:26:40
Well, I remember I used to be a competitive swimmer. I remember watching Mark Spitz win his seven golds in nineteen seventy two when I was ten.

Carl Holden:26:48
That's a good that's a good memory. That's a lot of pride that we have in our athletes.

Doug Soltis:26:54
Yep. Yep. I remember that. And that's when I decided I want to be a good swimmer and and I and I ended up being good. So yep.

Carl Holden:27:00
That's awesome.

Well, a last question to the upcoming future workforce of the United States, those who are in college or thinking about college, if all of them could hear you, what is advice that you would give?

27:18 · Doug shares key advice for the next workforce generation

Doug Soltis:27:18
Communication skills. It's not something that is typically taught very well in education. I would I would watch TED Talks. I would read the books on how to have TED Talks. I would watch them and I would learn how to communicate. Because, you know, they they say that the joke is with working with engineers, you don't have to tell the difference between a a an engineer that's both what's what I'm trying to say here?

Now let's skip that.

Carl Holden:27:48
Introvert and extrovert.

Doug Soltis:27:50
Yes, that's it. You know that one that what's the difference between an introvert and extrovert engineer? An extrovert engineer is looking at your shoes. So

Carl Holden:28:01
My dad's an engineer. I get that.

Doug Soltis:28:01
And yeah, and and all my best friends are engineers. I mean,

Carl Holden:28:06
Yeah.

Doug Soltis:28:06
I got four of my best friends, they're all engineers. So I got a degree in finance, but I I talk engineers, right? so what I would say is learn to communicate because that is is really the reason I have a job, is because I know how to communicate. I can I can I can talk to an engineer without Knowing engineering, so to speak, you know. I mean, I know the big purches, I know the big pieces and figure it out. But communication is going to be the lifeblood of the future of business. And learn to be know the difference between persuasion and perception.

Carl Holden:28:48
Hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I think we this upcoming generation has been handed a hard a hard deck of cards because with all the AI stuff and all the things where it feels like it'd be a shortcut and the staying away from talking to people and just texting and all those things, there's a gonna be a lack of opportunity for them to practice those.

Unless they like really seek it out, right?

Doug Soltis:29:18
Yeah, yeah, that's exactly that's exactly it, Carl. I think that being able to seek it out is is is you have to want to, you know, because I know my one of my sons is he never wanted to be in sales, but he decided to be in sales because he needs to overcome this. He needed to overcome it in order to do what do be the person he needs to be. He needs to be able to talk to people about, you know, meet somebody and bring up a conversation and talk to and sell And so it's I think it's very hard for this generation, but that's why I would say that that's the that is the key. That is the key whether you no matter what you're doing, how you communicate says everything about you.

Carl Holden:30:01
I think that's that's great advice and and hopefully someone out there hears that and and seeks those things out. well, Doug, thanks so much for coming on today and sharing what you do at DOS PAC. And we wish you the best as you continue to grow and and find new customers and find the right people. Thank you for coming on today.

Doug Soltis:30:22
My pleasure, Carl. You have a great day. Thank you.