EUROPEAN LEADER IN PLASTIC PACKAGING

PACKAGING INNOVATION: A plastic tray for ready made dishes that can be transferred directly from the freezer to a conventional oven at 220°C has made a Danish plastics manufacturer into a European market leader

Aunique plastic material for food products has revolutionised the way in which consumers can prepare meals. The material, a crystallised polyethylene derivative called CPET, can be stored deep frozen, and is microwavable and ovenable at up to 220°C in a conventional oven. The CPET production process is extremely difficult to control, but at packaging company Færch Plast in Holstebro, Denmark, they have thoroughly mastered it. So much so, that Færch Plast today has more than 45% of the European market for plastic trays for ready made dishes.

Added value
“To earn money in a highly competitive industry like plastics, you have to find a niche where you are the best in the world. The niche must be cultivated to perfection, and you must constantly be at the cutting edge with innovative products which create added value for customers.” So says managing director Jens Bornstein of Færch Plast. It is not enough to be the best at plastics; packaging manufacturers must also know everything about food trends and ordinary food preparation.

Monitoring trends
“It is essential to be able to read trends in the convenience market,” says Bornstein. “We take great interest in the American market, simply because what happens there today will happen in Europe later – usually with Great Britain as a staging post, as has happened with ready made dishes. British supermarkets have an amazing choice of dishes, a trend which has only just started in Denmark. But it is already gaining pace in Spain, France and the Benelux countries.”

For packaging producers, it’s a ready made opportunity to capitalise on – if they have the necessary competencies. “All growth markets require innovation and technical expertise. We have both sets of skills,” says Bornstein.

New factory in the Czech Republic Færch Plast’s ambitions of continued growth in the competitive plastic packaging market for the food industry will gain added momentum in 2007 when the company starts construction of a new production facility in the Czech Republic. The factory will be located in Liberec in the northern part of the Czech Republic, close to the German border. Færch Plast will invest around EUR 50 million in the 5000 m2 factory, which will employ around 100 people in the first year. “Plastics are immensely costly on the transport side,” says managing director Jens Bornstein. “With the new production facility in the Czech Republic we will be placed at the geographical centre of the market, enabling us to cover the growing need at competitive prices.” Initially the Czech factory will only produce relatively straightforward products in polypropylene, while the factory in Holstebro, in addition to conventional plastic products, will produce the difficult to control CPET production.

Reducing the price
To illustrate the company’s innovative skills, Bornstein mentions the collaboration with a German customer who needed a large number of plastic trays for minced meat. Instead of offering standard trays, Færch Plast’s engineers looked at the customer’s production equipment. By making a few adjustments to the process equipment, the stacking height of the plastic trays was reduced from 5 to 2 mm. Færch Plast not only shaved 25% off the tray price – a saving due to lower transport costs – but also helped the customer to make production considerably more efficient.

“Another product we have been particularly successful with is a tray specially developed for preparation of e.g. vegetables in a microwave oven. The lid of the tray is constructed so that at a pressure of 1.25 atmospheres, it creates a perforation which allows the steam to escape. The packaging saves both time and energy, and at the same time the food is attractively presented.”

Increased revenues with fewer people
Færch Plast has achieved 10% annual growth rates for many years, and it has been purely organic growth. In recent years, the company has nonetheless been able to restrain the staff growth curve. In the last two years the figure has actually decreased although production and revenues have continued to grow. “It is due to staff motivation and a strong focus on changed working procedures. But it is also because of continued investment in space, production equipment and automation. In the last four years alone, we have more than doubled our storage and production capacity.” Færch Plast forecasts revenues of approx. EUR 100 million in 2006, and Jens Bornstein expects that revenues will reach EUR 130 million in the next 3 or 4 years.

http://www.faerchplast.com