Smurfit Kappa provides a unique level of customer assistance through its provision of technical packaging and machinery optimisation support. At General Mills Berwick, Smurfit Kappa assisted with carton erector efficiency, which led to a reduction in downtime in the packaging area. Smurfit Kappa Machine Systems also carried out a comprehensive survey to target the improvement areas both parties could focus on. Smurfit Kappa Technical Manager, Alan Newby, received a certificate in recognition of his outstanding performance throughout the process.

David Cormack, Manufacturing Development Manager for General Mills, Berwick commented: “This work, which was relatively painless for us to undertake, was important in showing our production team the things we needed to address in-house, that were limiting the performance levels we are now achieving, independently of packaging quality.

”He continues: “In short, when we look back on the history of the relationship, the turning point for us came when we started to adopt a more collaborative approach on both sides. We’ve actually started to follow the model of the way we worked with Smurfit Kappa with several other suppliers on a variety of issues and have had immediate success.”

Marcus Jeffery, General Mills Account Manager at Smurfit Kappa West Auckland comments: “Our efficiency improvements have had a huge impact on General Mills’ main line 1. I think they will agree that this wouldn’t have been possible was it not for a very successful joint collaboration, made easier due to the strong working relationship we’ve built up with General Mills over a number of years.

”Marcus adds: “With the unique offering of additional support systems and technical advice that Smurfit Kappa provides, we can help our customers sell more.”

Smurfit Kappa’s commitment to ethical and social standards is ingrained at all levels of the business, and it is through the strong moral values underpinning the organisation that such outstanding results are consistently achieved.

The two-day assessment was carried out at Smurfit Kappa Stalybridge during November 2011, by independent auditors reporting to Smurfit Kappa’s customer Astra Zeneca, as part of its Responsible Procurement Programme. The 99% score was the highest the auditor had given in his 40-year history.

Part of a global programme by Astra Zeneca, featuring a unique scorecard that produces measured results, the assessment compares a facility’s performance against industry sectors, country and global benchmarks. This allows better understanding of compliance risks and progress tracking, and encourages continuous improvement.

The two-day, in-depth appraisal covered statutory and social responsibility Labour Relations; Working Conditions, including wages and hours; Health and Safety; Quality; Management Systems; Environmental Impact and Business Practices.

Smurfit Kappa’s Workplace Performance Index of 99%, exceeded the UK’s average performance by 13% and the Global average for its sector by 22%.

John Taylor, Health, Safety and Environmental Manager based at Smurfit Kappa Stalybridge, Tameside explains; “This high level of compliance reflects the importance that Smurfit Kappa places on Ethical and Social standards, ensuring our Pan-European customers can be confident their procurement processes do not undermine the strong social and ethical positions required of today’s leading brands.”

He continues “Our progress in workplace ethics has been identified and measured as one of the strongest recorded in the UK, reflecting the high level of moral responsibility that runs through our workforce from the shop floor to executive management. Ensuring our customers’ workforces are happy, safe and secure is just another way that Smurfit Kappa continues to support its customers’ brands.”

Smurfit Kappa has always been a leader in environmental responsibility, being the first integrated packaging manufacturer to be awarded Carbon Trust Standard across all of its Packaging, Paper and Recycling facilities in the UK, along with achieving FSC and PEFC certification for its paper and packaging production.

For more information on Smurfit Kappa’s Social, Ethical and Environmental Working Practices please call 0870 850 3877.

The transformation brings a personal, elegant design approach to a sympathetic restoration of this Grade II listed Victorian landmark property, just a minute’s walk from St James’ Park. With over 300 rooms set over five floors St Ermin’s has now installed four Scotsman CD40 ice stations to provide guests with hygienic, hands-free ice supplies. At the more specialised end of the ice making spectrum, the touch-free Ice Dispenser dispenses Supercubes without the need for human contact.

The CD-40 machines are complemented by a Scotsman Prodigy high capacity, super quiet ice cube machine, which includes an electronically controlled harvest-assist system allowing for faster harvest cycle and higher ice production. The Prodigy ice maker produces high volumes of Superdice ice and is used by St Ermin’s catering staff for its Caxton Grill and Bars, that are accessed through relaxing lobby, lounge and library areas leading to the Caxton Bar, outdoor Caxton Terrace Bar and the extended, new 70 cover restaurant, Caxton Grill.

Adrian Rayner, Hubbard Ice Systems Key Accounts Manager comments: “The CD 40 system is ideal for high-quality residencies, ensuring that guests can access fresh, clean ice that is untouched by human hand. The system features a magic eye dispensing operation that delivers supercube ice on demand. The machine is quiet, compact and has a stylishly designed user interface that enables it to fit effortlessly into the grandeur of the St Ermin’s or into a ultra-modern Boutique hotel. The exterior of the machine is finished in resistant Stainless Steel or enamel paint finish for ease of cleaning.”

All the Scotsman machines were supplied and installed by Carford Group Ltd., one of the UK’s largest Catering Equipment Service Companies and Catering Equipment distributors.

The innovative E-flute, corrugated container has been awarded the highest International packaging tribute with a 2011-2012 World Packaging Organisation, WorldStar award, in the Household category.

This follows the success of Smurfit Kappa’s ‘Sticks-Like’ pack at the 2011 Starpack Awards and 2010 UK Packaging Awards.

Entries from 56 worldwide awards, representing 42 member countries of the World Packaging Organisation qualified for consideration in the 2011-2012 WorldStars, which are only presented to those packages that have already won recognition in qualifying national competitions.

WorldStar awards are made on the judges’ consensus that the pack is the most superior entry in its own right, and displayed the best execution and innovation in its category.

The clever ‘Sticks-Like’ promotional pack consists of a one-piece, wraparound blank, holding three 290ml cartridges of Evo-Stik ‘Sticks-Like’ all weather adhesive. The packaging was designed to be equally as tough as the trade-only, high performance adhesive it holds. It has reversible spring tabs at each pack end and secure, grip-point hand holes on the pack sides, to prevent the heavy weight contents spilling out at the point of purchase.

This simple solution is not only successful, but economical and sustainable as well. The single-piece pack replaces a traditional five-piece solution to triple pack promotions. Constructed from FSC certified, recyclable board, the pack offers a clear and uncluttered branding area for on-shelf recognition and promotional messages.

Another Starpack and Worldstar success for Smurfit Kappa was in the beverages category with the Bag In Box – PouchUp®, being used by Manchester Drinks to package cocktails. A lightweight, free-standing pouch concept for beverages, PouchUp® does not require a secondary outer box. It has a dispensing tap, which extends the life of drinks after opening, a 100% printed surface for branding and a carbon footprint of just 20% of a traditional glass container.

The awards burnish Smurfit Kappa’s continuing successes in 2011, and confirm its place at the pinnacle of packaging innovation in the UK.

Clive Bowers, Smurfit Kappa UK Corrugated CEO, explains Smurfit Kappa’s secret for continuing success; “2011 was an outstanding year for us in terms of award wins, environmental achievements, innovations and investments. We have continued to develop award-winning packaging solutions for ‘blue-chip’ brands and have enjoyed major successes at all of the key industry awards, culminating in these WorldStar Awards. However, most importantly, we have earned a reputation for helping brand owners increase the performance of their products by living in our customers’ world and using our packaging knowledge to develop practical solutions to suit their needs”.

For more information please call: 0870 850 3877.

Would you like to work for the MK Group in 2012?

We’re looking for a new B2B PR and Marketing Executive to join our team and help with our business development plans.

Working alongside our existing Account Directors and answering directly to the Managing Director you will need to have good writing skills and a commercial and creative attitude.

We have a solid base of National and International trade and technical clients, just have a look at our client list. You will be supported creatively by our print and digital studio.

You will be responsible for producing complete marketing communications campaign’s that will include, Trade and Technical PR, Advertising media selection, Digital media campaigns, Social media development and reporting, copywriting and editing for print and web, exhibitions and generally supporting our clients as an external, fully inclusive Marketing Department.

Educated to degree level you will need a full, clean driving license, and be prepared when required, to travel throughout the UK.

If you would like to join our team, please send your CV by email to:

Robert Tuck, Managing Director rt@mk-group.co.uk

The bill which ends its public consultation period on the 7th of March 2012 proposes to make the existing voluntary scheme, mandatory. The Proposal would see places where consumers eat out (including restaurants, takeaways, mobile caterers, cafés, hotels, pubs, schools, hospitals and residential care homes) as well as places where the consumer shops for food (such as supermarkets, bakeries, and delicatessens) having to display their official Hygiene score.

The current voluntary rating scheme is run by local authorities in Wales in partnership with the FSA. The FSA is the UK non-ministerial government department responsible for food safety.

Ratings would be determined by an authorised food safety officer, usually an Environmental Health Officer or an officer with equivalent food premises inspection qualifications working for a Local Authority. They consider the rating criteria during the inspections they perform and issuing a hygiene rating to the food business for display.

The ratings are:

0 – Urgent improvement necessary

1 – Major improvement necessary

2 – Improvement necessary

3 – Generally satisfactory

4 – Good

5 – Very Good

Chris Davis, Commercial Director of Hubbard Ice Systems, the UK distributor of Scotsman Ice Machines says; “Scotsman already places great importance on ice hygiene, both in production, storage and handling and our machines feature built-in safegurads such as an Anti-microbial system in the ice bin. This uses an efficient, food safe antimicrobial agent, contained in a pouch on the inner side of the sliding bin door, creating a barrier against the potential proliferation of micro-organisms. Combined with our hygienic scoop-holder which is also positioned in a safe environment inside the bin, the scoop is always at hand for quick and hygienic collection of ice”.

He continues; “The Food Safety Act 1990 defined ice as a food. The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995 made it a requirement for ice to be made, stored and handled without contamination. Contamination can be caused by anything which touches the ice such as people, raw food or contaminated ice scoops. It can also be caused by dust and dirt entering the ice bucket or storage area and misusing cleaning chemicals. We think that the proposal to make the Hygiene Ratings system mandatory is extremely important, hygiene is a difficult subject to promote to the public, without scaremongering. The concept of publicly displaying an easy to understand rating will only harm those who have something to hide. With the support of manufacturers like Scotsman, designing products to be easy to clean, sanitise and maintain, retailers of food and drink should be able to reap the rewards of keeping hygiene standards high with increased consumer confidence and greater discretionary spending”.

via Scotsman Supports Welsh Food Hygiene Ratings Bill.

Corrugated board is a highly creative and practical medium with applications ranging from heavy duty and transit packaging to lightweight, curvable and highly print-receptive product packs; And Smurfit Kappa utilises the optimum grades of flute to provide economical and sustainable solutions that will help increase business for its customers.

Ideal for the retail sector, Smurfit Kappa’s innovative new S-flute sits between its B and E flutes, to offer a flute designed to be lighter, stronger and more durable than many corrugated boards. S-flute benefits from the performance characteristics of B flute – balanced perfectly for both transit and retail packaging – whilst producing the outstanding printability and strong crush resistance of E flute.

Highly sustainable, S-flute is manufactured from FSC certified fibres, is fully recyclable and designed to reduce supply chain overheads and the impact of logistics on the environment.

As well as S-flute, Smurfit Kappa offers a Bpp grade, which falls neatly between the standard B and C flutes. This grade offers an optimum performance packaging product to customers, thus providing the most cost effective solution.

Smurfit Kappa’s extensive flute family demonstrates their vision of ‘Helping Our Customers Sell More’. By combining global experience of markets, technical expertise, industry-leading design tools and unrivalled sustainability credentials, Smurfit Kappa are able to create the perfect solution for all packaging applications, delivering tangible, real world, benefits to customers and consumers alike.

As an example of Smurfit Kappa’s commitment to and expertise in the retail sector in particular, the business was chosen to be part of the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) workgroup in producing a set of guidelines for effective Shelf Ready and Retail Ready solutions.

Dubbed ‘The Five Easy’s’, the functional guidelines act as industry standards that will assist all disciplines involved in the supply chain to take into account the key factors in becoming retail ready, namely that outers should be: Easy to Recognise, Easy to Open, Easy to Shelf, Easy to Shop and Easy to Dispose. These five key areas can be expanded upon to take into account the needs of the consumer; operations in store; distribution channels; and packing and utilisation.

Clive Bowers, Smurfit Kappa UK Corrugated CEO comments: “We have built our brand on creating packaging that works in harmony with retailers and the environment and S-flute is another example of Smurfit Kappa’s commitment to innovative packaging that will help build our customers’ brands.”

For details of The Five Easy’s, new S-Flute and Smurfit Kappa’s complete range of sustainable packaging solutions, please email: enquiries@smurfitkappa.co.uk  or call 0870 240 0361

Featured will be a collection of Scotsman’s labour saving and energy-efficient ice making equipment. All types of ice will be covered, including Gourmet Supercubes, Flake and Nugget, with working examples of both supercuber and flake production.

Working demonstrations of Scotsman’s unique PWD (Progressive Water Discharge) system on its latest EFC 134 Cubelet Ice making system, which compresses flake ice into a nugget or cubelet shape will be complemented by the Scotsman EC 126 PWD Supercube Ice Machine – the hospitality sector’s ‘staple’ ice machine.

The flexibility of Scotsman’s PWD system, which allows a machine to be sited up to 15 metres distant from water and waste services and 1.7m lower than any existing drain outlet, removing the need for expensive plumbing and building alterations and ensuring that ice production is kept away from algae or microbes that can be found in drain outlets.

Hygiene features large in Scotsman’s approach. Also exhibited will be its TC180 countertop, ‘hands-free’ ice nugget maker and dispenser, for the self-service market. The focus on hygiene reflects Scotsman’s high standards of operating excellence, which aim to educate users in best-practice hygiene and maintenance programmes. By removing the element of reliance on user knowledge, Scotsman have incorporated high visibility automated scheduled maintenance reminders, anti-microbial vapour protection for storage bins, incorporated AgION antimicrobial agent in moulded plastics, its patented anti-scale system, built in hygienic ice scoops and easily removed front access, condenser air filters.

All of these features are ultimately aimed at taking ‘cost-out’ of the UK hospitality sectors operating costs, by reducing down time for maintenance, and by improving the hygiene and quality of ice manufactured, stored and served. Ensuring a continuous flow of fresh and palatable ice makes Scotsman Ice Machines the first choice of many of the UK’s leading food, beverage and entertainment outlets.

Paolo Moro, Marketing Director of Scotsman Ice Systems says: “Hotelympia is still one of the most important global exhibitions, and we are pleased to be represented here by our distributors, Hubbard Ice Systems. The UK Hospitality market continues to lead us in the requirement for new, better and more efficient approaches to manufacturing, storing and dispensing ice. As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of ice machines, Scotsman is delighted to respond to those calls for new approaches, and we continue to work closely with our customers, understanding their ‘local’ requirements and developing new products to suit those requirements”.

Hubbard Ice Systems, Hotelympia 2012, Stand No. N1646

Will be exhibiting

The 18th Sportability Golf Classic was held at Dereham Golf Club on 28th October 2011 was sponsored by Norfolk Frames and organised for the fourth year in succession by Richard Egle, Norfolk Frames Contracts Manager.

The nine-hole course hosted 72 players, its maximum capacity, who participated in the tournament and raised funds for Sportability through entry fees and a post match auction.

Richard Egle explains: ”This was my fourth year of organising the Sportability Golf Classic, and we are constantly astonished at the popularity of the event, having to turn players away when the course had reached its capacity for the day. Norfolk Frames kindly sponsored the overall event, and the day was a huge success.”

David Heard, Chief Executive of Sportability attended the event and addressed the assembled players. He commented: ” Last year Sportability provided over 50 events, offering more than 600 free places for people with paralysis to participate in sport around the country.

None of this would be possible without the support and generosity of caring organisations and companies such as Norfolk Frames.

There is someone now lying in a hospital bed thinking that their life as they knew it is over, through the Sportability Experience, we are able to change that perception and help build a new reality, so Norfolk Frames and the contestants’ contribution really counts.

Norfolk Frames manufactures and installs many of the UK’s Housing Associations’ residential doors and firedoors. The doors are constructed from composite materials and faced in a high quality, fire and wear resistant glassfibre finish. Norfolk Frames staff are highly experienced in working with disabled and vulnerable residents in housing association facilities and the opportunity to support Sportability was a perfect ‘fit’ with its products, services and ethos of supporting the communities in which it works.

Smurfit Kappa was chosen from a strong field and clearly outclassed the competition of runners up DS Smith and SAICA to win the highly coveted award. One judge described the presentation pack, which holds two bottles of the ale and a glass, as “very original” and praised its “very clever cut-out design, which allows use of a single piece of packaging”.

This is the second award Smurfit Kappa has won for the Old Tom gift pack, after being honoured with a gold at the Prestigious EFIA, European Flexographic Industry Association Awards earlier this year in the Post Print Coated Line-Screen category.

The corrugated pack is designed to resemble the wooden crate it replaced for Old Tom ale and is called the Wrong Way Box as Smurfit Kappa innovatively turned the product on its back and used the top and bottom flaps to secure the product, so no extra fittings were required. As well as cutting the unit cost of the packaging, the design allows a complete view of the contents, yet has sufficient display faces for informative print.

Additional factors that pleased the UK Packaging Awards judges were the fact that the Wrong Way Box is supplied flat, taking up less room in the warehouse and reducing storage costs; is lighter, significantly reducing postal costs; and has built in buffers, so no void fill is required.

The pack is printed using high quality flexographic post print to a very high standard – so much so that it’s difficult to believe the box is, in fact, made in corrugated.

John Robinson, Buyer at Frederick Robinson Ltd, comments: “The boxes look great and we have had so many complimentary comments about them, and from other brewers as well!”

At the UK Packaging Awards, held at the Park Lane London Hilton on 16 November, Smurfit Kappa was also shortlisted for the Consumer Convenience Award, the Sustainable Pack of the Year and twice in the Supply Chain Solution of the Year category.

Left to right: Packaging News Editor, Josh Brooks; Smurfit Kappa Print Vision Designer, Anup Champaneri; Smurfit Kappa Print Vision UK Sales Director, Paul Cahill; and Comedian, Tony Hawks.