Dart Container Corporation of Mason

Mason, Michigan

Mason is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is named after the state's first governor, Stevens T. Mason. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,252. It is the county seat of Ingham County. Mason is the only city in the U.S. that serves as a county seat ahead of a state capital,...

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 is the world's largest manufacturer of foam cups and containers, producing about as many as all competitors combined.

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

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

. When his son, William A. Dart, came out of the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 with three degrees (metallurgy, mathematics and engineering), he worked for DuPont

DuPont

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...

 for a short while, then joined the family business in the late 1950s. He experimented with and perfected an expandable polystyrene

Polystyrene

Polystyrene ) also known as Thermocole, abbreviated following ISO Standard PS, is an aromatic polymer made from the monomer styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon that is manufactured from petroleum by the chemical industry...

 (EPS) molding process, and shipped their first insulated foam cups in April 1960. Dart Container Corporation was incorporated in 1960.

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!”

Dart currently manufactures product in: Mason, Michigan

Mason, Michigan

Mason is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is named after the state's first governor, Stevens T. Mason. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,252. It is the county seat of Ingham County. Mason is the only city in the U.S. that serves as a county seat ahead of a state capital,...

; Horse Cave, Kentucky

Horse Cave, Kentucky

Horse Cave is a city in Hart County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,252 at the 2000 census.- History :The city is best known for the large natural cave opening located on the south side of Main Street, from which the town's name is derived. As for the historical reason for the odd...

; Corona, California

Corona, California

Corona is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 152,374, up from 124,966 at the 2000 census...

; Quitman, Mississippi

Quitman, Mississippi

Quitman is a city in Clarke County, Mississippi, USA, along the Chickasawhay River. The population was 2,463 at the 2000 census. The county seat of Clarke County, it is the hometown of San Antonio Spurs power forward Antonio McDyess and the birthplace of writer Wyatt Emory Cooper.-Geography:Quitman...

; Lodi, California

Lodi, California

Lodi is a city located in , in the northern portion of California's Central Valley. The population was 62,134 at the 2010 census. The California Department of Finance's population estimate as of January 1, 2011 is 62,473....

; Randleman, North Carolina

Randleman, North Carolina

Randleman is a city in Randolph County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,557 at the 2000 census. It is the home of NASCAR's Petty family, the Richard Petty Museum, and the Victory Junction Gang Camp.-Geography:...

; Plant City, Florida

Plant City, Florida

Plant City is a city in Hillsborough County, Florida, in the United States, approximately midway between Brandon and Lakeland along Interstate 4. The population was 34,721 at the 2010 census....

; Leola, Pennsylvania; Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...

; Lithonia, Georgia

Lithonia, Georgia

Lithonia is a suburban town in eastern DeKalb County, Georgia, incorporated as a city. Lithonia's population was 1,924 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...

; Waxahachie, Texas

Waxahachie, Texas

Waxahachie is a city in Ellis County, Texas, United States, and a southern suburb of Dallas. The population was 21,426 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Ellis County....

; North Aurora, Illinois

North Aurora, Illinois

North Aurora is village in Kane County, Illinois, United States. A suburb of Chicago, its population was 15,848 at the 2009 census.In its early history, North Aurora was known as "Schneider's Mill" or "Schneider's Crossing" after John Peter Schneider, a German immigrant who established a mill and...

; and Tumwater, Washington

Tumwater, Washington

Tumwater is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. It lies near where the Deschutes River enters Budd Inlet, the southernmost point of Puget Sound. The population was 17,371 at the 2010 census...

.
International subsidiaries have factories in: Campbellford, Ontario

Campbellford, Ontario

Campbellford is a small town in Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, in the municipality of Trent Hills.Located at , Campbellford lies approximately midway between Toronto and Ottawa. It is situated on both the Trent-Severn Waterway and the Trans Canada Trail. It can be reached from Highway...

; Cradley Heath, West Midlands, UK

Cradley Heath

Cradley Heath is a town in the Black Country, located in Sandwell metropolitan borough, England. The name is usually pronounced "Craid-ley", not "Crad-ley", but in the Black Country accent, it may even sound like "Craig-ley Aith"...

; Atlacomulco, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

; Tijuana, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

;Smithfield, New South Wales

Smithfield, New South Wales

* Highest Recorded Temperature: 44.2 °C* Lowest Recorded Temperature: -2.3 °C* Warmest Month: January* Coolest Month: July* Highest Precipitation: February* Lowest Precipitation: August-Demographics:...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

; and Pilar, Buenos Aires

Pilar, Buenos Aires

Pilar is a city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It has a population of more than 226,000 inhabitants as per the . Pilar is part of the Greater Buenos Aires urban conurbation and is the head of the administrative division of Pilar Partido...

.

Family Business ranks Dart Container 37th in their listing of family companies, with an estimated $1.1 billion in sales, and 4,950 employees.

Jousting with the IRS

The company is owned by brothers Kenneth B. and Robert C. Dart, who gave up their U.S. citizenship and moved to the Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...

 to avoid U.S. income and estate taxes

In 2001, the Internal Revenue Service

Internal Revenue Service

The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...

 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 million more for 1996 and 1997 taxes.

In 2003, the Internal Revenue Service took the brothers into court, saying they owe an additional $19 million in 1998 and 1999 taxes. 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. In 2002, the Dart brothers and their companies paid $26 million in taxes - for 1994.

Rollin Dart

Rollin Dart

Rollin Dart

Rollin Bashford Dart , American banker, was chairman of Dart National Bank from 1962 to 2005, and president from 1962 to 1999. He continues to serve the bank as Chairman Emeritus and Community Relations Officer....

, of Mason, Michigan, chairman of Dart National Bank

Dart National Bank

Dart Bank, founded in 1925, is an independent community bank based in Mason, Michigan, with branches in Holt and Grand Ledge. As of December 31, 2006, the bank's assets stood at $228 million, with $202 million in deposits and 92 employees.The bank was founded by Rollin C...

from 1962 to 2007, is a cousin of the Dart Container family.