11-11-2024
If the name Iconex doesn’t sound familiar, its products should.
“If you’ve seen a label on your Starbucks or Dunkin cup, or your McDonald’s bag, it was produced from a process that we patented,” says Craig Gunckel, who served as CEO of Iconex from 2017 until he sold the company’s label solutions and point-of-sale receipt businesses earlier this year. “Staying in front of the technology curve is important to the continued success of the organization.”
Gunckel, a Purdue graduate and member of the Daniels School Dean’s Advisory Council, returned to campus to address students in the Executive Forum. He fully appreciates that leaders who have both business and technology backgrounds possess an advantage in creating market disruptions.
“Having the ability to understand how systems work is incredibly valuable,” he says. “Innovation starts with creating solutions that solve a customer’s problem. We have to have good market intelligence, find the proper science to deliver a solution, and then translate that to the manufacturing floor.”
While the technology may be complex, the need to keep workers safe is both basic and essential. When Gunckel took over as CEO, the incident rate at the plant ranged between 5 and 7, basically meaning that each year 5-7 workers suffered some type of work injury. At the end of his tenure, the numbers ranged between 0 and 1, with some plants going years without accidents.
“The most important resource we have is the people who make, pack, and ship our products. They’re also the ones who are most in harm’s way. We spent a lot of time talking about safety, and if you work or visit, you will have eye protection, ear protection and steel-toed shoes,” Gunckel says.
He adds that there are cardinal rules of safety, and if workers break them, there is zero tolerance. “You will not be working at Iconex if that happens,” he says. “You don’t like to have to make those decisions, but if you don’t do it, it sets a precedent. It’s part of the company’s culture.”
Prior to leading Iconex, Gunckel spent more than 20 years at WestRock and RockTenn. He was named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year® 2023 Southeast Award winner and was named one of the “Most Admired CEOs” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2021.
