Holt is more than just a face in a crowd

Benjy Holt, engineering manager at Graphic Packaging International in Perry, is this month’s face of advertising in Georgia.

The award, presented Tuesday at the plant on West Perry Parkway, is a monthly recognition of people around the state who are an integral part of the industry.

The Atlanta-based company prints packaging for soft drink, beer and snack brands and ships the product to packaging and bottling plants of well-known brands. Additionally, it prints packaging for craft beer brands, a niche that has exploded during the past 10 to 15 years.

A ceremony honoring Holt was held at the plant Tuesday. Among dignitaries visiting were Kelly Mullins, company human resources director; Mitch McGee, plant manager; Andy Johnson, vice president, Government Affairs & Sustainability; Kris Dover, vice president, Business Continuous Improvement; Alan Barfoot, Central Georgia region manager for GaMEP; Georgia state Rep. Shaw Blackmon; a representative from U.S. Rep. Austin Scott’s office; Perry Mayor James Faircloth Jr.; and Robert Smith, Perry director of economic development.

Holt is a U.S. Navy veteran originally from Hawkinsville. As a young man he accompanied his father on his cracker route where he learned lessons about hard work and presentation.

On his biography Web page, Holt tells of a lesson he learned in presentation from his father. Holt’s dad challenged him to see who could load more cracker packages into a jar. Wanting to complete the task quickly, Holt emptied two boxes of crackers into the jar and when he finished he realized his dad was neatly stacking cracker packages in a pattern. When done, his dad had five boxes neatly arranged in the jar. He turned to Holt and said, “It’s all about the presentation. If you dump them in there, customers are less likely to buy them. If I put the crackers in neatly, I can get more in and will sell more at this store.”

Holt entered the service after graduating from high school. During his six-year career, he became an electrician in the Surface Fleet, trained to pursue the Navy Divers Salvage program, and met Cathy, his wife of 33 years.

On his bio page, Holt says “the military gave me the responsibility I needed. It taught me to hold myself accountable and be part of a larger team of people that were depending on me.”

After his honorable discharge, Holt worked in maintenance in a manufacturing plant in Middle Georgia for five years before coming to Graphic Packaging International as a reliability engineer and planner. He later advanced to maintenance manager, and now is manager of engineering/maintenance/tooling, where he leads a team of more than 40 people, including both managers and technicians.

“Since joining the Navy all those years ago, I have become much more of a controlled and reserved person, especially when I don’t know someone,” Holt says on his bio page. “But that experience in the Navy, along with leading teams, has allowed me to grow with my team and develop leadership skills.”

Like many others who have found fulfillment in their profession, Hunt said all his experiences have played a part in the person that he is.

“Manufacturing has a lot to offer, and I didn’t choose it as much as it chose me,” he said Tuesday.

Holt’s story, along with other “faces of manufacturing in Georgia,” can be found online at facesofmanufacturing.com.

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