Last year, LC Packaging opened the doors of its second FIBC production facility in Bangladesh: Dutch-Bangla Pack Ltd. II. (DBPL II) The new facility creates over 650 high quality jobs and includes a state-of-the-art cleanroom that enables the facility to double the annual production capacity of high quality Food Safe and Pharma Clean FIBCs. The expansion was mainly fuelled by growing demand in the market and continuous investments in sales and distribution activities at LC Packaging in Europe, Africa and beyond. Additionally, the production facility has been awarded numerous other certifications, such as ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 and FSSC 22000 for Food Safety.

“We see demand especially growing in value-added FIBCs in the food and pharmaceuticals industries. Our facility is highly qualified to produce these Food Safe and Pharma Clean FIBCs. The new expansion contains a 4,000 sqm state-of-the-art cleanroom to safely produce this type of packaging. Recently, DBPL has received a prolongation of its certification for the manufacturing of FIBCs for the high care food segment. A beautiful reward for the commitment to quality, multiple investments in our cleanrooms and our Foodsafe Assurance Program. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been built into DBPL’s operations from day one. When we started our own FIBC production in Bangladesh in 2008, our aim was always to operate according to the SA 8000 standards. Now, 11 years later, we are still SA 8000 certified.”

Second Factory Bangladesh

Production

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As sustainability is an increasingly important consideration for our customers in choosing suitable packaging, the demand is steadily shifting from trays with foil (plastic) to 100% cardboard trays. Partly due to this shift, Pacapime had a good year with good margins. In 2019, the family company and 50% shareholder of LC Packaging invested almost €10 mln euros in new machinery, including a 7-colour Rotary Die Cutter for the production of cardboard trays in their facility in Hungary and a second 4-colour Inline Machine in Halle, Belgium, for the production of 24,000 so-called standard boxes per hour.

The new acquisitions are modern and user-friendly, ensure safety during handling and reduce noise pollution. Additionally, in the light of sustainability, Pacapime Belgium has made preparations to install solar panels in June 2020, with which the company hopes to save 20,000 tons of CO2 annually. In terms of certification, both Pacapime facilities have maintained the ISO22000 certification and since 1 January 2020, have also been assigned the FSC Mix Label.

Investments in Cardboard Machinery

Production

Together with our Partner Fresh Park Venlo, LC Packaging/ Hagens Verpakkingen has invested in the development of a brand new building for its cardboard erecting station. In December 2018, LC Packaging acquired a majority share in Hagens. The box erecting station in Venlo, the Netherlands erects boxes of both corrugated board and solid cardboard and predominantly serves the fruit and vegetable sector.

The new building will be located at Fresh Park Venlo: Europe’s largest fresh and food hub. With this investment, we are well prepared to further develop the cardboard market in the southeast of the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Additionally, the new building is a great stepping-stone for all our other packaging materials. The new 9,000 m2 building is scheduled for completion by the end of 2020.

New Building for Hagens Verpakkingen

Production

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In the past two years, the AGRI sector in Western Europe has faced quite a few challenges. Because of the enormous drought in 2018, many potato and onion farmers had to contend with an extremely disappointing harvest, affecting the whole of Europe. Such a drop in demand affects the entire value chain. In the first half of 2019, LC Packaging and its Production Partners saw disappointing results in their turnover. With courage, good forecasting and trust in each other and the market, LC Packaging and its Production Partners managed to get through this as an even stronger team.

Together with our Agri packaging Partners, we continued our bag production (over 15 million bags) and dealt with the financial consequences and risks. Not only did we want to prevent people losing their jobs in the jute factories and of course, the raw material suppliers, by keeping the bags in stock, we also made sure we were – and are – able to supply our customers immediately when the market recovered and the demand returned. And, as the second part of the year brought an improved harvest, 2019 had a promising year ending for our AGRI packaging division and our Partners. The power of long-term Partnership!

AGRI Partners Join Forces

Production