Benson Group: Expanding on All Fronts

The Benson Group is the UK’s leading privately owned printed carton supplier, producing packaging product for both the food and pharmaceutical industries. The Group has enjoyed unparalleled growth since 2002, when a business with an £11 million turnover provided a £1 million loss. In 2008 the company expects turnover to have reached a somewhat more substantial £85 million, with an operating profit of 6.5%. All of this in a market where customers are keener than ever to force prices down, and the competition is always on hand to provide buyers with a “cheapest ever” quotation.InvestmentOne major factor in the turnaround of the business has been a culture of investment in the very best of equipment. This helps to ensure consistent and reliable production systems, together with the higher productivity provided by newer technology. Investment in new plant and equipment across the four group sites has totalled in excess of £25 million, and this is now considered an on-going process, with a focus on selecting the equipment before it is needed in order to cater for growing demand.The CompanyGroup headquarters are in Bardon, Leicestershire, where the company owns 130,000 sq ft of production and warehouse space. Food manufacturers are the main customers for this site and for the company’s two North-East facilities in Newcastle and Gateshead: Print Design & Graphics and Integrated Packaging. These sites have a combined total of 200,000 sq ft of manufacturing and warehouse space. The fourth site in Crewe, Medica Packaging, serves pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. It has 73,000 sq ft of manufacturing, warehouse and office space. The company employs some 800 personnel across four sites.Environmental StanceOne key strength of cartonboard over many other packaging materials is its ability to be recycled easily and efficiently. The current focus on green issues within packaging ensures that the carton still holds a pre-eminent position because of this environmentally friendly property. Like all quality suppliers, Benson Group keeps a tight focus on environmental issues, and a recent press installation at its Leicestershire facility further demonstrates the commitment the group has to this increasingly important area. This particular press is now producing UV printing at 18,000 sheets per hour with no alcohol in the fount solution. The machine also proves its environmental friendliness with its “emission-checked” certificate as well as its optimized UV printing certificate.Cartonboard – Naturally RenewableCommenting on the wonders of cartonboard, Mark Kerridge, Managing Director of Benson Group, says, “An unfortunate perception of the print and packaging world is that it “eats trees”! In fact, of the world consumption of wood only 12% is actually used for the manufacture of paper and board, and of this, just one tenth us used for cartons. Over half the cartons used in Europe are manufactured using recovered fibres from waste paper.“In Europe over 90% of the wood needed by the paper and board industry comes from European forests, and responsible packaging producers, like Benson Group, ensure that their purchases are made from FSC and PEFC certified suppliers, which means that any new wood used has come from responsibly managed forests. Overall there are more trees planted than felled in Europe, and as forests absorb CO2 they combat greenhouse gases, and therefore have a positive effect with regard to climate change.“Cartonboard is easy to recycle. Cartons are simple to crush flat and separate for disposal. If, for any reason, they are not recycled, the vast majority are 100% biodegradable. Overall, however, it is not packaging that makes up the majority of landfill. Government statistics show that it is only 18% of household waste, and just 3% by weight and volume of packaging waste sent to landfill.“Records also indicate that the amount of used packaging sent to landfill and been in decline for the last ten years. Whilst innovative design has focused on using less material, nearly 60% of all packaging was recycled in 2005, including some 1 million tonnes of household materials. The average household generates some 3 t 4 kg of used packaging per week, and at least the same amount of wasted food.”Constantly InnovatingBenson Group is constantly innovating within the food packaging sector, as evidenced by the installation of a new Bobst window patching device which also glues the carton in one pass. This is the first such machine in the UK, and is a beta test system, running alongside Bobst die-cutting equipment with the latest optical register systems that ensure perfect cut-to-print register. Commenting on Benson Group’s innovative stance, Managing Director Mark Kerridge, says: “We constantly seek new and innovative solutions from our equipment suppliers in order that we can continue to further increase our own efficiencies.”The company also recently installed the UK’s first folding and gluing line incorporating the AccuBraille device – an inline Braille system providing the highest quality.Supply Chain Management FocusPart of the Group’s culture is to ensure a high focus on supply chain management. As one particular part of this process, Benson Group has been working closely with ink supplier Sun Chemical in order to establish the closest possible colour matching system across group companies. The use of Vale-Tech equipment for ink mixing further aids the accurate production of corporate colours for customers whose work is produced at different sites within the group.Original Article