Dart Container
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dart Container Corporation[1] of Mason, Michigan, United States is the world's largest manufacturer of foam cups and containers, producing about as many as all competitors combined.[2]
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[edit] Company history
Dart Manufacturing Company was founded in 1937 by William F. Dart as a machine shop, manufacturing key rings, steel tape measures, and dog tags for the Department of Defense.[3] When his son, William A. Dart, came out of the University of Michigan with three degrees (metallurgy, mathematics and engineering), he worked for DuPont for a short while, then joined the family business in the late 1950s. He experimented with and perfected an expandable polystyrene (EPS) molding process, and shipped their first insulated foam cups in April 1960.[3] Dart Container Corporation was incorporated in 1960.[4]
[edit] Operations
Dart Container Corporation is vertically integrated. "This means that we are virtually self-sufficient," claims vice-president James Lammers. "We manufacture our own equipment, produce the raw material for our products, turn the raw materials into finished products and then deliver them throughout the world via trucks we own and operate. There are only a few things, like cartons, that we don’t produce in-house. We even have our own printing capabilities and make our own ink!”[3]
Dart currently manufactures product in: Mason, Michigan; Horse Cave, Kentucky; Corona, California; Quitman, Mississippi; Lodi, California; Randleman, North Carolina; Plant City, Florida; Leola, Pennsylvania; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Lithonia, Georgia; Waxahachie, Texas; North Aurora, Illinois; and Tumwater, Washington.[5] International subsidiaries have factories in: Campbellford, Ontario; Cradley Heath, West Midlands, UK; Atlacomulco, Mexico; Tijuana, Mexico;Smithfield, New South Wales, Australia; and Pilar, Buenos Aires.[5]
Family Business ranks Dart Container 137th in their listing of family companies, with an estimated $1.1 billion in sales, and 4,950 employees.[6]
[edit] Jousting with the IRS
The company is owned by brothers Kenneth B. and Robert C. Dart, who gave up their U.S. citizenship[7] and moved to the Cayman Islands[8] to avoid U.S. income and estate taxes [9]
In 2001, the Internal Revenue Service said the Dart brothers improperly billed $11.6 million of personal security costs to Dart Container. In U.S. Tax Court, Dart Container argued the money was a valid business expense due to "specific threats and other facts and circumstances." Half the money went for corporate aircraft. The IRS asked for $4.4 million more for 1996 and 1997 taxes.
In 2003, the Internal Revenue Service hauled the brothers into court, saying they owe an additional $19 million in 1998 and 1999 taxes.[7] They deducted $45 million in "interest" payments to feuding sibling Thomas J. Dart, relating to division of the family business in 1986. The brothers claimed they were owed a $10 million refund instead.[7] In 2002, the Dart brothers and their companies paid $26 million in taxes - for 1994.[7]
[edit] Relation to other notable Darts
[edit] Rollin Dart
Rollin Dart, of Mason, Michigan, chairman of Dart National Bank from 1962 to 2007, is a cousin of the Dart Container family.
[edit] Doc Corbin Dart
Doc Corbin Dart, of Lansing, Michigan, a punk rock musician, is the son of Rollin Dart.
[edit] Justin Whitlock Dart
The late Justin Whitlock Dart, heir to the Walgreen's drugstore chain, bought United Drugstore in 1943, acquired other drugstore chains, rebranded them all as Rexall, and in 1958, when he controlled 20% of all drugstores in the U.S., he bought Tupperware. Despite being someone named Dart who produced plastic containers, he is unrelated to the Dart Container family.
