There’s a good chance you encountered something Fibre Converters made today. You just didn’t know it and that’s exactly the point.

The Constantine, Michigan-based manufacturer has spent more than 75 years perfecting the art of the invisible, producing laminated paper, die cut components, and extrusion-coated materials that quietly hold the world together. The paperboard tucked behind your car seat. The structural panel behind a dresser drawer. Fibre Converters makes all of it, and more.

Founded in 1949, the company has grown into a privately held operation with just over 100 employees, large enough to carry serious technical expertise, small enough to stay nimble and responsive. And if there’s one thing they’ve committed to, no matter where they are in the journey, it’s continuous improvement.

The System Behind the System

The Fibre Transformation System (FTS), as the team calls it, is the backbone of how improvement happens across the organization. It isn’t a poster on the wall or a quarterly initiative. It’s a structured framework with tools, governance, and clear processes for identifying opportunities, prioritizing work, and sustaining results. It’s designed so that employees at every level can engage with it.

Leading that effort is Kayla Rudy, FTS Manager and the person responsible for both building and deploying the system. Her role sits at the intersection of structure and people: making sure the right tools are in place while building the kind of cross-functional collaboration that makes lasting improvement possible.

But Kayla is quick to point out that none of it happens without the people around her. The operators and team members on the floor are the ones who bring the system to life every day, problem-solving, asking questions, and doing the hard work of improvement in the middle of everything else on their plates. FTS is built for them, and because of them.

A Lean Community, Found at the Right Moment

In the fall of 2024, Kayla attended the Lean Leadership Summit on the advice of their Green Belt instructor, Jerry Browne. It was her first MLC event, but it wasn’t her last. Since then, she’s attended the Grand Rapids Lean Summit, participated in Gemba Tours, and became a regular at the virtual coffees that MLC hosts throughout the year.

What started as one person exploring a new community has grown into something more meaningful for the organization. Fibre Converters has since added their FTS Technician and three engineers to their MLC membership, with those engineers currently enrolled in the MLC Green Belt Course this spring.

That kind of expansion isn’t accidental. It reflects a deliberate decision to invest in the people who will carry the improvement work forward.

Learning by Doing—and by Listening

One of the things that keeps Fibre Converters coming back to MLC events isn’t just the content, it’s the conversations that happen around it.

Through the MLC, the team has connected with organizations across industries, gaining real-world insight into how other practitioners apply Lean principles in very different environments. That cross-pollination matters. When you see how a completely different operation has solved a problem you’re wrestling with, it opens up possibilities you might not have considered on your own.

Fibre Converters has taken that seriously. They haven’t just attended events, they’ve actively adapted what they’ve learned, incorporating ideas from other organizations into their own continuous improvement efforts. There’s still plenty of road ahead, but that willingness to borrow, adapt, and apply is exactly what the MLC is here for.

“To say my fate is not tied to your fate is like saying, ‘Your end of the boat is sinking.’”

We’re All in the Same Boat

That quote cuts to the core of why they approach continuous improvement the way they do. Every role matters. Every process is connected. Every decision ripples outward to affect what gets delivered to customers.

For Fibre Converters, building a stronger organization means building better systems and stronger people simultaneously. The Fibre Transformation System provides the structure. MLC provides the community, the tools, and the broader perspective that helps the team keep growing.

We’re proud to have Fibre Converters as part of the MLC community. Here’s to the continuous improvement journey, one that, as they know well, is always better traveled together.

About Fibre Converters

Based in Constantine, Michigan • Founded 1949 • Specializing in laminating, die cutting, and extrusion coating

www.fibreconverters.com