DS Smith Continues Investing for Growth in Germany with New Facility

DS Smith, Europe's leading supplier of recycled corrugated packaging, officially opened the doors to its newly-built display and consumer packaging plant in Erlensee, Germany, on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016. The plant is part of its investment program designed to help the leading European packaging and supply chain specialist achieve its ambition to double in size. Construction of the new facility began in August 2015 and was completed in September of this year.

DS Smith has invested approximately EUR 50 million in the project—developing the new plant and equipping it with the latest printing and finishing technology. The 45,000 sq. meter site comprises production and logistics facilities, plus conference rooms and offices.

It replaces the company's previous site 10 km away at Hanau, which could no longer meet the requirements of a highly efficient industrial business model. The plant also consolidates the display and consumer packaging activities of DS Smith in the region, to maximize efficiency.

All 250 members of staff from the previous site will be taking up their current roles at the new site, ensuring the business maintains all current expertise from within the business. The total number of employees will increase within the next couple of years to enable DS Smith to achieve its ambitious display and consumer packaging growth strategy.

There is an Impact and PackRight Center located at the site where customers can experience the entire supply cycle under realistic conditions, and collaborate with DS Smith to produce their picture-perfect pack. The Impact Center is set up to look like a real supermarket and back-of- store area that allows DS Smith and its customers to look at the effectiveness of packaging in a real-life environment. The PackRight Center provides a physical space for customers to meet with their packaging strategist and work together to perfect the design and concept. In addition, there will be a Trend & Innovation Area where visitors can get information about new developments in the industry like virtual reality applications, to increase sales at the point of sale.

Tobias Hafner, sales director of consumer packaging and display across Germany and Switzerland, said that "we are committed to servicing our customers as best we possibly can and ensuring we have the right facilities to do this is crucial. This new development is testament to that commitment and we hope our customers feel as excited by this as we do. We believe that with this plant we have created the largest and most efficient site of its kind in Europe.

"We work closely with our customers to find solutions that increase their sales, reduce their costs, and manage risks. Consumer and display packaging, in particular, present huge opportunities for us to grow together with our customers. We have the knowledge, talent, and experience, and now we have the facilities as well to offer even more value to our customers across Europe," Hafner continued.

DS Smith has been investing heavily in the Germany and Switzerland region in recent years. This includes introducing a modern inter alia digital printing machine and equipping two corrugators with a new dry end to produce higher quality products at a faster pace than before. The business has also introduced three new die cutters across the region, plus two new inline machines, to create higher-quality production. It has complemented these developments with investments in logistics, IT, and health and safety.

DS Smith operates in more than 36 countries and employs around 26,000 people. Using the combined expertise of its four divisions—Packaging, Recycling, Paper, and Plastics, the company works with customers to deliver solutions that reduce complexity and deliver results throughout the supply cycle. More information is available online.

DS Smith is Europe's leading supplier of recycled corrugated packaging. Its product range includes retail ready packaging, transit cases, consumer units, packs printed for gift and POS applications, and heavy duty packaging for industry. DS Smith's European network of manufacturing plants services thousands of customers, from multinationals to local businesses.