Pakaflex News

New Investment on line

We are pleased to advise that our newest coxtruder was installed in November and has been immediately fully utilised!  It has been of great assistance in improving turn-around times.  You can see the latest automatic air-ring and extrusion control system from Europe. We still have some more exciting upgrades for 2023 coming!

Pakaflex Printer wins graduate of the year!

After our last successful (and award winning) printing apprenticeship programme  we have already recruited a new batch of apprentices for the class of 2023 We are excited to have been recognised for our innovative print.

For more information go to :  www.print21.com.au/commercial/pakaflex-printer-lia-vic-graduate-of-year

Ausdeck goes for photographic wrap

We are proud to have helped AUSDECK patios and roofing make their product stand out!. With their new vibrant Blue and Green photographic printed wrap -it is clear that they are the premium supplier. This wrap is used to ship the product around Australia and it was made on our new 8 colour press. We see the options for large format print for products like this and timber protection as almost endless. Ausdeck liked the picture so much, they often cut out a single image for each end to make the packs look perfect!

Additional manufacturing site opened

In preparation for our new recycler we have moved all our bag making and slitting operations to 64-68 Leggo Court. This site is nearby in Dandenong South just off Hallam Valley Road.  Most stock items such as underground warning and barrier tapes, strapping, stretch wrap and asbestos removal bags will now need to be collected from this site.

Major supply problems in the USA

Following the events in Texas several major polymer suppliers have now called force majeure. Exxon Mobil has declared they are unable to take new orders for at least two months as they struggle to meet demand. At this stage Pakaflex has sufficient stock – hence we are not anticipating significant issues – but it certainly continues the relentless increase in global polymer prices seen over the last two weeks.

Plastics prices surge

The recent cold-snap in Texas has caused havoc in the petrochemical and plastics industry with almost the entire region closed down. It will be a few weeks before we understand exactly what the fall-out of this will be, but it seems to have become a trigger for major price hikes. The shut-downs in the USA come on top of 4 other major issues that have been impacting prices. These are:

  • General supply shortages due to increased demand for more packaged product due to COVID-19 when predictions were for reductions.
  • Global freight rates sky-rocketing and huge delays across the world.
  • Strike action by the Maritime Union of Australia is also causing delays locally.
  • China demand has surged (after Chinese New Year).

We will be working with all our customers to minimise the impact of what we hope are very short term issues. Please contact us for the latest information.

AKD in the pink again

AKD is Pinking Up again in support of the McGrath Foundation to help raise awareness and support to help fund McGrath Breast Care Nurses who provide invaluable support and care for the women and men who are experiencing breast cancer.

AKD is again encouraging all AKD team members and customers to wear their pink shirts and shoelaces for the month of October, and this year they are also supplying pink face masks free of charge to all employees and asking them to also make a personal donation to the charity.\

“We have set ourselves a target of $50,000 this year which is more than double what we raised last year,” AKD CEO Shane Vicary said.

“We are pushing hard this year to reach this ambitious goal and we have already raised almost $10,000, and it’s only the start of October.

“To make a difference to this worthy cause, we need to rev up our generosity; everyone can make a positive difference and that’s got to feel good after the year we’ve all had so far.”

To promote the cause even more publicly and to really make heads turn, the company is even changing its product wrap for October to include the Pink AKD logo, the McGrath Foundation logo and the donation link that people can follow to donate.

This change in wrap was suggested by AKD’s product wrap supplier Pakaflex, which has agreed to do this new wrap design at no extra cost and has also donated $1000 to the McGrath Foundation. Many of AKD’s customers and suppliers are also getting on board with the pink face masks in support of raising donations and awareness.

“This is a great opportunity to really get the message out to everyone who interacts with our products – freight companies, fabricators, merchants, packaging manufacturers, builders – to create awareness for the cause and help us hit our fundraising target of $50,000,” Mr Vicary said.

 

 

Silos improve materials handling

Pakaflex has just installed 4 60t bulk silos. Feeding directly to our sophisticated polymer distribution system

Our largest coextruder yet

We’re pleased to announce our newest state of the art coextruder (C5) is on line. Shown in the picture with our Business Development Manager, Susan Hamer. Designed specifically to continue our growth in nursery, compressed mulch and other outdoor aplications it incorporates the latest German air-ring technology and blending for 18 coextuded components. This pushes up our daily capacity to over 25tonnes – without a significant increase in costs – helping us continue to deliver our mantra of ‘Affordable Quality’ to our customers..

Pakaflex is recertified to ISO9001:2015

Every three years Pakaflex is required to undergo compltete recertification to the latest ISO9001:2015 Quality Management standard.   In 2016 we were proud to be one of the first companies to be certified to the new 2015 standard – and our three year recertification shows our commitment to delivering ‘affordable quality’ to our customers has not wavered.

Rob Mackay joins the team

We are pleased to have oiur new Account Manager, Rob Mackay in the team! Rob will be working in our timber and industrial markets nationally assisiting or Sales Manager (Adrian StJohn) in ensuring we maintain the best possible customer support.

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Other useful links:

Platts – Information on commodity prices. Requires registration.

The Packaging Council of Australia is a national Association of raw material suppliers, packaging manufacturers, packaging users, retailers and packaging designers/consultants.

The Australian Institute of Packaging.