FLEXIBILITY and the personal touch have been lauded as the secret to longevity at thermoformed packaging manufacturer Macpac, which is celebrating 50 years in business this year.
The company has grown from humble beginnings to become one of the leading thermoformers in the country, providing solutions to clients in a range of sectors from food and pharmaceutical through to manufacturing and horticulture.
Throughout the firm’s evolution, family values have remained at the heart of the business. Current MD Graham Kershaw is the son of founder Chris Kershaw, who established Macpac in 1973, borne out of a printing company.
The name Macpac comes from ‘Macclesfield Packaging’ and in the early days the company produced packaging for the legendary die-cast Dinky toys and Meccano sets.
“The early 1970s was the start of commercial thermoforming,” Graham Kershaw told Packaging Scotland. “Everything was run on semi-automatic machines in those days. It was a really open market and a quickly expanding market.”
To meet growing demand, Macpac relocated to premises on the outskirts of Manchester in the 1980s. The company remained there for over a decade until a devastating fire destroyed everything from tools to machinery. Highlighting the ability to adapt to changing situations for which the firm has become known, Macpac was back up and running within five months and operating from its current HQ in Stockport.
Graham joined the business in the 1990s and ‘slowly but surely’ took over from his father. “We gradually expanded, took on one extra unit, then another, than another, to where we are today,” he explained. “Every single year we’ve made it a plan to buy a new machine. We’ve always got more or less the latest equipment. That has helped us stay competitive and means we can offer the most flexible services.”
Today, Macpac has 52 employees and considers itself a nationwide business. Much of the firm’s success stems from being an early adopter of sustainability measures. Whilst all businesses are having to grapple with environmental considerations in the modern era, Macpac was ahead of the curve when it came to ‘green’ credentials, becoming one of the first companies in the packaging industry to embrace recycled PET (rPET).
“Everybody says this, but we really were one of the first companies to use rPET,” Graham added. “That was back in the early 2000s. I was a youngish graduate and wanted to do things right. We started using rPET and it was a difficult sell at the time because the only clear rPET you could get had a blue tint in it. That’s because it was made from recycled water bottles. It became quite a clear Macpac trademark.
“Recyling got better, rPET got clearer and clearer, and we’ve been a constant user of rPET for a long time. It’s something that we really want to strive towards educating our clients that it’s better to make the packaging right than to sell a really expensive pack that gets criticised heavily for a product being over-packaged. We always advise clients to be sensible about their design.”
In 2005, Macpac entered the medical/pharmaceutical sector, using rPET as its choice of material in the design of the first thermoformed dosage pill tray.
“We do a lot of medical packaging,” Graham said. “That’s a very competitive market but we’ve been in it for a long time. We’re constantly reviewing new designs for packs. It’s very driven by our clients as well. We have a number of patented designs we can apply to different packaging styles, which we do to protect the clients from their products being copied. That works very well.”
Macpac’s expertise in the medical sector came to the fore during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company made face visors during that period – and not just for medical use. In the space of one weekend, Macpac designed and manufactured thermoformed visors that could be fitted over hard hats, which meant key workers in semi-industrial roles, such as Network Rail employees, could continue to work safely. The innovation led to the firm winning the Special Award for Covid-19 Response at the Railway Industry Awards and highlighted Macpac’s capability of being able to get a product to market almost instantly.
Because the business doesn’t use anything featuring less than 30% recycled content, the Plastic Packaging Tax has caused no issues. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), however, is something the company is monitoring closely. Packaging Scotland’s interview with Macpac took place just as Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) plans were yet again delayed. Graham believes some of the teething problems Scotland has experienced with DRS could be replicated across the UK with regards to EPR.
“I don’t think anybody truly quite understands when it’s going to come in and how it’s going to affect everybody,” he explained. “There are different stages of consultation which we’ve been through with the government. We’re a member of RECOUP. They’re informed on latest developments, but it’s a very difficult thing to communicate onwards to our clients. We haven’t got a concrete answer for them, and that’s what they want. And we don’t know when we’re going to get a concrete answer either.
“DRS is a precursor to the mess we’re going to have on EPR. It needs five years for the agencies that are going to manage waste to get their procedures in place before it should be introduced. That should be done first before the legislation is introduced, otherwise it will just be endlessly criticised for not working.”
Regardless of what future challenges crop up, the business is confident that its wide range of machinery will allow it to adapt to whatever market forces demand. Macpac can take on small volume projects right up to what Graham described as ‘the biggest imaginable’ production runs. Having such a broad portfolio means that if one sector goes down, more than typically another sector will rise.
To mark the 50th anniversary, Macpac held a family fun day, where all employees and their families were invited to a day of celebration which included circus acts, games, and a barbecue. Graham stressed the importance of including family members and believes being a family business has been crucial to Macpac’s continued success, not least because clients have access to senior personnel.
“If clients have a question and come to me, they know the answer they get is going to happen,” he said. “If they need a lead time by a certain date and I say we’re going to get it, they know they’re going to get it. There’s a level of trust that comes from having a more one-to-one relationship with our clients.”
Looking ahead, Graham concluded by citing ‘organic and affordable’ growth as the aim of the game for Macpac. “We could grow and grow, and take out big loans, but you can over-stretch yourself, which is something we’ve never done,” he said. “We’ve always been able to afford our growth. That gives us a level of security which again I think is a reflection of the age of the business.”
