Industrial Application Manufacturing Entrepreneur Roger D. Miller, chief executive officer and president Gateway Packaging Company of Missouri Roger Miller is a prime example of an entrepreneur with a burning desire to accomplish something; who saw a need within his industry and started a company to meet it; and loves his work so much it has become his hobby. Miller literally learned the packaging industry by holding every possible position, starting as an on-line production worker and progressing to supervisory and planning roles, on up to sales and management positions. Throughout his career Miller listened to his purchasing contacts and learned from his peers, soon realizing there was tremendous difficulty in finding good suppliers for flexible packaging products. Seizing the opportunity, Miller started Gateway Packaging in 1982, working from his home as a representative for several packaging manufacturers. By 1987 he owned two printing presses and purchased an old dairy building to house his four employees. Sales volume increased dramatically over the next few years and, by 1991, Miller built a 20,000-square-foot building in Granite City, added more presses, more slitter and laminator machines, and hired 12 more employees. Miller and his wife, Becky, have worked together as a team from the start. He says she is as passionate about the business as he is and swears she knows as much about the operation as he does. In fact, he says, if Becky retired he’d have to “hire at least three people to replace her.” Time is not an issue when you do what you love, according to the Millers, who are both low-key and unassuming. Long hours and hard work are just part of the equation. The company’s slogan—Our packaging is flexible, our quality isn’t— accurately reflects the attention to customer service and has spurred their tremendous growth. By 1999, Gateway was producing finished pet food bags and their business had grown dramatically. In September 2001, they completed the purchase of Percy Kent Bag Company of Kansas City, leading Gateway to further growth and a total of 281 employees. Today, revenue is more than $50 million annually. Diverse printing capabilities are also responsible for much of Gateway’s expansion. With both narrow-web and wide-web printability, Gateway has a wide-ranging versatility in the types of products it can convert. In addition, the company is exceedingly flexible in that it can handle very small “mom-and-pop” type businesses, as well as extremely large million-plus runs for Fortune 500 companies. Gateway’s 130-plus customers are found within the pet food, human food, industrial, chemical, and medical industries, and are located throughout the world. The company’s goal is to continue growing through acquisition of strategic packaging niche firms that complement their current product lines. These include printing and converting all types of labels; spiral binding; condiment and tamper evident lidding; flexible rollstock or form packaging; as well as multi-wall, pinch bottom, sewn open mouth, pasted valve, and SOS bags.