Berry Plastics becoming Berry Global Group

Updated — Berry Plastics Group Inc. is changing its name and adopting a new logo in a move that is both a nod to the company's past and a look toward the future.

The Evansville, Ind.-based company will become Berry Global Group Inc. April 13, and is already using the new logo.

Changes, which include a new set of company values and mission statement, have been in the works since last fall when Tom Salmon became chief operating officer in anticipation of succeeding Jon Rich as CEO in February.

“For those of us who have been with the company for a while, it really represents who we are today. It's just a fresh, clean look,” Salmon said in a telephone interview from Geneva, Switzerland, where the company unveiled the moves April 3. “You have to look at it comprehensively between the name change, the mission and the core values.”

Berry now has 90 domestic and 41 international locations is looking to follow customers to different parts of the world as they continue to expand. But the company will not grow for growth's sake, the CEO said.

“The majority of our business resides in North America. It's incredibly important to us. It's always going to be an incredibly important region to us. But we also have to make certain that we've got the ability to deliver value internationally as well. And that is definitely aspirational for us. We're going to be very smart about that. We're going to do that in a methodical, measured way. But our end customers expect it,” Salmon said.

A 2015 acquisition of nonwovens maker Avintiv Inc., with operations in 14 countries, helped broaden Berry's international geography.

“There is opportunity where customers want to take advantage of those core values that Berry represents. We feel that our business has to reflect the opportunities that exist in other regions of the world. We're going to be prudent in evaluating those opportunities and making certain that it makes sense for our end customers but also our shareholders,” Salmon said.

Virtually all of Berry's products use plastics “in one way or another,” Salmon said, and the CEO does not believe eliminating the word “plastics” from the company's name will have any impact.

“Plastics remain incredibly important to us. It's a core competency of ours. It's always going to be. But we didn't want to limit our thinking. We didn't want to limit it to that substrate in and of itself. And we just felt that what's important is ‘Berry.' People know who we are,” he said.

“That's what people always refer to us as in the marketplace, ‘Berry.' They never use ‘Berry Plastics,'” Salmon said. “I think this captures the essence of who we've been and who we really are.”

Aside from the name change, the company also has adopted a mission statement: “Always advancing to protect what's important.”

The new logo features a diamond shaped icon in the upper right hand corner consisting of four parts, each of a different color. Those sections represent the company's new values of partnerships, excellence, growth and safety.

These values, Salmon said, are high standards. “But they are standards we expect to achieve and deliver on those commitments and those promises to our customers every day.”

Berry also is changing the name of a wholly owned subsidiary from Berry Plastics Corp. to Berry Global Inc.

The company unveiled the changes in conjunction with Index 17 in Geneva, which bills itself as the world's largest nonwovens exhibition.

Berry is now a $7 billion company with more than 130 locations, a far cry from the single-location business in Evansville with less than $25 million in annual sales in 1983 when the company became Berry Plastics, Salmon said.

“We think this is a fresh look for our company,” Salmon said about the changes. “We're excited. The company is poised and this is a great opportunity.”