Smurfit Kappa joins forces with supply chain engineers ESTL
Smurfit Kappa announces a new, exclusive partnership with ESTL, the global market-leaders in the safe delivery of goods, bringing together the full suite of expertise for customers’ packaging, transport, security and logistics needs, under one roof.
This exclusive partnership means that for the first time, brand owners can develop the most innovative and cost-effective packaging solutions in conjunction with both Smurfit Kappa’s supply chain optimisation tools, such as Pack Expert – which analyses over 20,000 supply chains annually – and ESTL’s rigorous transportation tests, to ensure the product arrives safely with the purchaser without unnecessary over-packing.
With 4% of all shipped goods damaged on arrival, packing a product to ensure its safety during transportation is paramount. However, this can no longer come at the expense of being stand-out on the shelf or easy to open. Smurfit Kappa’s partnership with ESTL provides customers with a one-stop-shop of unrivalled scientific knowledge and insights to get the very best packaging solution for the safe delivery of their product, while still delivering for brand owners, marketers, procurement professionals and logistics experts.
This is the first time that these two specialist expertise have been brought together. They provide Smurfit Kappa customers with the deepest insights in paper and board packaging along with transport, security and logistics optimisation. As well as ensuring products arrive safely, this also reduces customer costs and resource, as these expertise no longer need to be sourced independently.
“By combining our expertise with ESTL, we will uncover ground-breaking insights on transport security and logistics optimisation to help our customers’ businesses. The partnership will enable customers to develop end to end packaging solutions safe in the knowledge that it will deliver on all levels – from safe transportation during the supply chain, through to attracting shoppers on the shelf – while also saving costs on minimising product damage and reducing unnecessary packaging waste.”
The partnership with ESTL embodies Smurfit Kappa’s focus on delivering innovative solutions that are based on deep customer insights, solving real-world problems and delivering customer growth. The partnership has already benefited a number of big, international brands.
Jelle Dendauw, President of the packaging department at ESTL said,
“We are very excited to be partnering with Smurfit Kappa to offer their customers the capability to take a holistic review of their entire supply chain and their associated packaging needs. We give customers a neutral and independent point of view on how they can optimise their pallet load stability and reduce damaged products and waste.”
This partnership with ESTL is another example of how Smurfit Kappa is set to ‘Open the future’ for its customers. The new strategy focuses on delivering customer growth through insight and innovation, reflecting the continued battle for brand owners to win that all-important First Moment of Truth, where shoppers choose one brand over another. It is brought to life through a dynamic microsite, where a series of films demonstrate how customers across the world have worked in partnership with Smurfit Kappa to create innovative solutions which have driven commercial success. The new microsite can be visited at www.openthefuture.info and will be the home for new, shareable content updated regularly.