Coveris Group invests in Coveris Flexibles France sites
Coveris Flexibles France, a division of global packaging company, Coveris Group, is one of the pioneering leaders in flexible packaging in the French market. An investment of €10 million will facilitate the purchase of machine tools for Coveris Flexibles France’s industrial sites situated in Firminy, Montfaucon and Campine (in the Loire and Haute-Loire regions).
This investment will allow Coveris Flexibles France to further expand its expertise and market leading position whilst increasing production capacity and technological excellence. Moreover, this will also create around 30 new jobs in the region.
The five new machine tools; extruder, printer, laminator, laser-cutter and bag moulder machines, will increase the Group’s targeted expertise in extrusion and film printing during the manufacture of packaging dedicated to pet food. They will be delivered onsite between the end of 2015 and mid-2016.
“Coveris Flexibles France is a centre of excellence, renowned for its expertise in extrusion and film printing as well as the manufacture of high performance products for the pet food market,” said Philippe Langelier, director of Coveris Flexibles France. “We are investing to improve our know-how, further improve our relationships with our clients and pursue out ambitious plan for growth. This investment reinforces our activity but also our engagements concerning social and environmental responsibility.”
A growth strategy for the dynamic pet food market
The pet food market did not suffer from the financial crisis, the Group said; French people own 63 million pets and spent €4.3 billion on pet food last year (Source TNS Sofres). This rapidly expanding market is highly influenced by changing fashions, with a noticeably stronger trend in ‘premium’ products. The dry products and ‘snacks and treats’ divisions are booming with an increase in volume of 15 per cent.
Coveris’ development strategy responds to global demand by combining global vision with a local approach, in order to closely meet our customers’ expectations. Due to investments in external growth (the May 2015 acquisition in New Zealand for example) and internal growth (with the investment in high-tech machine tools), Coveris offers the market packaging (retractable film, designed to optimise practicality), which protects food while respecting the environment.
A human investment
As a centre of excellence, Coveris Flexibles France places equal emphasis on human capital. This investment should create around 30 jobs, reinforcing the company’s position as a major player in the local economy. The investment also contributes to the continuous improvement of the skill base of Coveris Flexibles France employees, thanks to training programmes implemented by the company.
Within the Social and Environmental Responsibility Framework to which the Group is fully committed, Coveris Flexibles France’s industrial investment allows it to develop packaging that is increasingly environmentally friendly, thanks principally to our extrusion techniques (reduction of thickness, thus generating less waste), or the new composition of their packaging.