Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation

1. Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation

Packaging Corporation of America (“we,” “us,” “our,” “PCA,” or the “Company”) was incorporated on January 25, 1999. In April 1999, PCA acquired the containerboard and corrugated packaging products business of Pactiv Corporation (Pactiv), formerly known as Tenneco Packaging, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tenneco Inc. In October 2013, PCA acquired Boise Inc. (Boise). After the acquisition of Boise, we became a large diverse manufacturer of both packaging and paper products. We are headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois and we operate primarily in the United States. We have approximately 14,600 employees.

We report our businesses in three reportable segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. Our Packaging segment produces a wide variety of corrugated packaging products. The Paper segment manufactures and sells a range of papers, including communication-based papers, and pressure sensitive papers. During the third quarter of 2017, the Company announced that it will discontinue the production of uncoated free sheet and coated one-side grades at the Wallula, Washington mill in the second quarter of 2018 to begin the conversion of the No.3 machine to a 400,000 ton-per-year virgin kraft linerboard machine. Corporate and other includes support staff services and related assets and liabilities, transportation assets, and activity related to other ancillary support operations. For more information about our segments, see Note 17, Segment Information.

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of PCA and its majority-owned subsidiaries after elimination of intercompany balances and transactions.