Macfarlane Packaging

About Macfarlane Packaging

 

About us


Macfarlane Packaging is the leading UK distributor of packaging consumable products with a market share of approximately 20%. We operate through 17 Regional Distribution Centres supplying customers on a local, regional and national basis. In addition, we have two manufacturing sites concerned with the design & manufacture of bespoke packaging solutions.

Our vision is to deliver innovative and cost-effective packaging solutions to our customers through outstanding customer service. We benefit our customers by enabling them to ensure their products are cost-effectively protected in transit and storage by providing an extensive product range, single source supply, just-in-time delivery and tailored stock management programmes.

Markets


We serve over 20,000 distribution, retail and manufacturing customers across all industry sectors including the food, fashion, electronics, medical & pharmaceutical, mail order, automotive etc.

Products


Our three key categories of products are transit packaging (standard and bespoke), presentational & retail packaging and automated packaging solutions. We supply over 20,000 product lines per annum across the following product groups:

Services


1. Customer Service Teams

Our experienced and knowledgeable team of Account Managers and Internal Sales Co-ordinators provide independent, professional advice to all our customers to ensure the best choice of products is chosen to fulfil our customers’ needs.

Our sales teams are fully trained to analyse our customers' complete supply chain, including material costs, environmental impact, supply base, administration and inventory. We strive to ensure that customers are receiving value for money and we produce the most cost-effective packaging solutions to fulfil our customers' needs.

2. Supplier Partnerships

Our purchasing scale and key supplier partnerships enable us to provide our customers with the widest range of packaging products from leading national and international manufacturers including DS Smith, Smurfit Kappa, Sealed Air, Total Polyfilm (formerly Tyco Plastics), Vibac, 3M and Ranpak.

3. Inventory Management

With over 600,000 sq ft of warehouse space and a fleet of almost 100 vehicles delivering more than 600,000 order lines per year, our 17 strategically-located Regional Distribution Centres ensure we are never far from our customers. Customers can minimise packaging stock levels, confident that we can deliver where and when required. With many customers, we manage direct line feeds, just-in-time and Kan Ban systems. We consistently enable our customers to confidently reduce their vendor base and the associated administration costs.

Find out more about our Inventory Management Services

4. National Capability

With our national network of Regional Distribution Centres, we are uniquely positioned to service multi-sited nationwide customers. We have a dedicated National Accounts team, focused on providing consistently high levels of service, managing your account centrally whilst still maintaining a local presence with next day delivery for in-stock items.

Find out more about our National Capabilities

5. Design & Manufacturing

Our in-house manufacturing operations design, manufacture and assemble custom-designed packaging solutions for customers looking for cost-effective methods of protecting higher-value products in storage and transit. Our manufacturing operation serves the industrial, commercial and Ministry of Defence markets which includes electronics, medical, aerospace, agricultural and automotive customers.

More than 250 people work over two sites in Lincolnshire and Wiltshire, offering a vast amount of knowledge and experience across all industries to provide packaging solutions for export, transit and storage requirements. Our design teams can produce a packaging solution from initial concept through to design. Both manufacturing sites have fully-equipped design and sample making departments to create solutions that best suit the product. We use the latest materials, incorporating innovative features that will maximise the product’s protection, whilst minimising material usage and logistics costs.

Depending on customer requirements, packaging products can be laboratory tested to commercial levels ISTA, ETSI, BS1133 or defence standard.

Both manufacturing sites are qualified to manufacture to the following standards:

  • DR14 Military Capability
  • ISPM 15 Accreditation (for the supply of heat treated timber)
  • Resy and Repack Registration
  • CREW (Lean Manufacturing Philosophy)

Find out more about Packaging Design & Manufacture

6. Quality & Environment

Macfarlane recognises it has a responsibility to ensure that through its business operations it impacts positively on society. Macfarlane are registered with and operate in accordance with BSEN ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 standards.

Part of Macfarlane Group PLC

 

Macfarlane Packaging is the trading name of Macfarlane Group UK Ltd, a subsidiary of Macfarlane Group PLC. Macfarlane Group PLC was established in 1949 by Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden KT. Floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1973, Macfarlane Group has grown to become an international organisation with businesses in the UK and Europe.


The Group has 20 locations across the UK and 2 in Europe. In 2010, the Group had a turnover of nearly £150 million.


To find out more about Macfarlane Group visit: www.macfarlanegroup.net, or watch our YouTube video.