Camvac News

Last week our CEO, Greg Kingham, spoke to Packaging Insights about Camvac Production during COVID-19.

Read the full inteview below or on Packaging Insights here;

Camvac has leveled-up the production output of its medical and core food packaging solutions by transitioning from a two-shift to a three-shift 24-hour operation as the COVID-19 pandemic drives up demand. Europe’s first supplier to produce food-grade metalized OPP and PET packaging, Camvac is experiencing particularly high demand for its mono-material tray lidding films, which offer high barrier options. Greg Kingham, CEO, takes PackagingInsights inside Camvac’s enhanced operations to discuss international supply chain challenges, employee safety and how established product lines are trumping the latest eco-friendly innovations in these unprecedented times.

“Worldwide, governments are recognizing that food and medical manufacturers of flexible packaging are playing a critical role in the battle against COVID-19. Camvac’s business operation places it as a central supplier of essential products and services to the healthcare, food and liquid packaging markets. Without primary packaging, these supply chains will be compromised and the battle against COVID-19 hampered,” Kingham affirms.

Camvac reports increased demand for its medical and core food packaging. In particular, Extrapet recyclable lidding film has seen a “massive increase” in demand. Extrapet is a transparent barrier polyester laminate, which is used in a wide range of lidding film applications, including processed meats, fresh meats, poultry, pasta, vegetables and bakery, where presentation and freshness are critical. Extrapet is an all-PET, mono-material structure available in peel and non-peel, anti-fog and high barrier options.

“We believe that the demand increase for our food packaging materials is a result of the food industry catching up with demand from the consumer panic buying but also our customers increasing their stock levels,” Kingham explains.“To cope with the increased demand and maintain supply to our critical food and medical markets, along with our other specialty markets, Camvac has increased its manufacturing output by moving from a two-shift operation to a three-shift 24-hour operation.”

Since the outbreak, Camvac has also witnessed an increase in demand for its liquid packaging films, Kingham notes. “This increase is not just short-term to replace used stock as customer orders are being brought forward to meet current demand and future orders placed at the same time to ensure stock levels remain positive.”

A spanner in the sustainability works
The impact of COVID-19 is so great that it has even shown signs of hindering the seemingly unstoppable environmental sustainability mega-trend, at least temporarily. Pre-COVID-19, the demand for new environmentally-friendly packaging was “constantly increasing,” Kingham tells PackagingInsights. “However, over the last month, we have seen a decrease in the demand for our sustainable packaging solutions with our customers opting to take stock of our established product lines.”

Accordingly, new developments at Camvac have been put aside to allow the Technical & Development Team to fully concentrate on supporting the supplier’s medical, food and liquid packaging demands.

Kingham is keen to illustrate, however, that Camvac is now able to offer 70 percent Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) films, which can include barrier properties for use within the food lidding packaging marketplaces. The PCR films are designed primarily for heat-sealed tray lidding applications.

“In a longer pipeline, the Technical & Development team are working on a sustainable packaging solution called Cambag for our liquid packaging market. Cambag will be an environmentally-friendly high barrier laminate that is fully recyclable for the Bag in Box market. It will be available in clear and metalized laminate options,” Kingham highlights.

The COVID-19 outbreak has also overlapped with the launch of Camvac’s latest sustainable film, Cambrite Camvert, a fully biodegradable and home-compostable decorative metalized acetate film. “The interest is constantly growing with this film and with the enforcement of non-essential travel being in place, new marketing methods had to be thought of,” Kingham says. “Our Marketing Team has turned its focus to direct marketing to help this situation.”

Circumventing supply disruptions
Camvac supplies its products internationally and relies on an international supply of raw materials. The company has reported longer lead-times in raw material supply from mainland Europe, particularly Spain and Italy, two of Europe’s worst affected countries in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kingham puts the raw material delays down to more stringent border controls and checks and a reduction in transport availability. Camvac has increased its raw material stock levels to limit the potential impacts of supply chain disruptions.

The same issues apply to Camvac’s distribution of products. “Our transport companies have been experiencing labor supply issues. This hasn’t stopped deliveries, just extended the lead-times,” he notes.

“Some of our customers further afield like in Australia and Asia have brought forward their orders to compensate for the extended shipping times. Camvac’s Purchasing Team is working tirelessly to minimize the disruption this could cause on our manufacturing output.”

“As a global business, we are also having to closely monitor individual country exchange rates against the pound for volatile changes as a result of the impact COVID-19 is having on economies around the globe,” Kingham adds.

Safety first
Camvac’s production increases have not come at the expense of employee safety and the company has taken “drastic action” to ensure that. In line with government advice, individuals that can reasonably work from home are doing so and office areas have been reorganized to allow for social distancing for colleagues who are required to attend site. All site visits and customer travel have been canceled.

Kingham tells PackagingInsights that Camvac has implemented “rapid expansion” of its IT capacity to increase the number of people who can work from home while conference calls are taking the place of face-to-face meetings. The supplier has also commenced daily COVID-19 Crisis Management Team Meetings to ensure that new issues are tackled immediately. Meanwhile, the hygiene team is working increased hours to support a safety regime.

“[24-hour manufacturing] is only possible because of the Camvac Team, who are absolutely committed to keeping our business operating in this time of need. Central to our operations is the Production Team, which has shown remarkable flexibility, commitment and resilience to the ever-changing situation. These swift reactions and combined team effort have and will continue to ensure that Camvac remains fully open for business and able to supply its customers in the difficult times ahead of us all,” Kingham concludes.

Camvac have risk assessed the COVID situation and will continue to monitor the pandemic daily. Our latest COVID Risk Assessment can be found here; RA Corona virus update 04.11.20

Anyone wishing to place further orders should contact their normal Sales Managers and of course we are open to discuss new opportunities about our flexible packaging solutions through our contact us form on our website or general sales enquiry email; info@camvaclimited.com

Due to an uplift in demand & the ongoing issues created by the Corona Virus Crisis, Camvac has some vacancies for Temporary General Operatives working in our manufacturing facility.

These vacancies are advertised on a week by week basis & will be temporary roles.

The ideal candidate will be physically fit, with previous experience of working in a manufacturing environment. They will be required to perform shift work.

Interviews will begin next week (6th April 2020) and will aim to start successful candidates quickly.

If you are interested or know someone who is interested in the opportunity to join the Camvac Team, please ask them to send their C.V. – showing at least the last two years employment history – to Jim Oddie, Operations Director, at their earliest convenience.

Please email jim.oddie@camvac.com

ISO 9001 Certification maintained for another year.

Annually Camvac is inspected to ensure we are maintaining our Quality Management System (QMS) so we can better serve our customers. Our chosen QMS is ISO 9001. ISO 9001 helps businesses and organisations be more efficient and continually improve customer satisfaction. The primary focus of the ISO 9001 standard is to meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations.

In order to be certified to the ISO 9001 standard, as company Camvac must follow the requirements set forth in the ISO 9001 Standard. The standard is used by Camvac to demonstrate our ability to consistently provide products and services that meet our customer and regulatory requirements and to demonstrate continuous improvement.

The yearly inspection is based on a number of quality management principles including a strong customer focus, the motivation and implication of top management, the process approach and continual improvement. Opting to adopt ISO 9001 into the business helps ensure that customers get consistent, good-quality product and services at all times. The key quality management principles in ISO 9001 certification are; Customer Focus, Leadership, Engagement of People, Process Approach, Improvement, Evidence-Based Decision Making and Relationship Management.

Over the past year Camvac has been overhauling our product development procedure so we can better serve our existing and new customers. This was duly picked-up during the inspection with the notable points from our latest inspection being the ‘excellent development procedure at Camvac’. The 2019/20 ISO 9001 inspection resulted in a 100% score for Camvac, which shows we are continuously ensuring our products and services are consistently meeting our customer’s requirements and that quality and customer satisfaction are consistently improved.

Worldwide, governments are recognising that food and medical manufacturers of flexible packaging are playing a critical role in the battle against COVID-19.

Camvac’s business operation places us as a central supplier of essential products and services to the healthcare, food and liquid packaging markets. Without primary packaging, these supply chains will be compromised and the battle against COVID-19 hampered.

As a company, Camvac are working closely and regularly with our suppliers and customers. We are witnessing an increase in demand as we continue to play our part in the food and medical supply chains. With these increases in material demand for our flexible packaging solutions, and with countries going into full lock-down, we have experienced some raw material supply issues. However, rest assured, we are working tirelessly to minimise the disruption this could cause on our manufacturing output.

As members of this business and the supply chain, each and every employee has a responsibility to help minimise the impact of the current crisis on our communities. We are taking every step possible to increase and maintain social distancing to protect each other. We have the space and hygiene facilities, along with self-discipline, to ensure that we do not create any unnecessary risks for each other.

We have introduced a number of measures which include:

• Individuals with the ability to work from home have been sent, where their job permits, to work from home.
• Expansion of our IT capacity to increase the number of people who can work from home, where possible, without compromising the individuals or the needs of the business.
• Office areas have been reorganised to allow for social distancing for colleagues who are required to attend site.
• Meetings have been reformatted to increase the use of conference calls and provide larger meeting areas to reduce contact opportunities.
• All visits and travel have been cancelled.
• Some flexible working has been offered to those who cannot work from home to minimise their exposure.
• Implementation of improved hygiene regimes across the site
• Increased the working hours of the hygiene team to support the increased regime.
• Continuous advising of social distancing within operations.

These actions are being reviewed and progressed daily with any new steps being addressed as they arise. Once again, flexibility is crucial to ensuring that we continue to support each other in these uncertain times.

Camvac has a critical role of ensuring the health and safety of our citizens. Working with our suppliers and customers we are supporting our healthcare providers, food and liquid packaging manufacturers globally in this time of crisis.

Whilst we have materials and key customers to support, we will remain open and play our role in supporting the nation.

Anyone wishing to place further orders should contact their normal Sales Managers and of course we are open to discuss new opportunities about our flexible packaging solutions through our contact us form on our website or general sales enquiry email; info@camvaclimited.com

On Monday the Prime Minister announced further drastic actions are required to limit the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). These latest government actions have resulted in more drastic measures being introduced to our site here in Thetford so our business can continue to operate. At this moment in time, we are not seeing any immediate impact on our ability to supply our goods and services that are depended upon.

As already reported earlier this week, a proportion of our office and support staff have been relocated to work from home. However, the new measures introduced on Monday evening by the British Government, mean that the majority of our office and support staff will be relocating to work from home by the end of this week.

As a company, Camvac are fully set-up for remote working. However, some lines of communication maybe better than others in this transition period. We would ask at this time that you either contact our staff members via their mobile numbers, and not the Camvac main landline, or email them directly.  Doing this will result in your enquiry being dealt with as efficiently as possible.

As announced earlier this week, our production operation remains fully functioning and we are seeing an increase in demand as we continue to play our part in the food and medical supply chains. There are some raw material supply issues from mainland Europe, but we are working tirelessly to minimise the disruption this could cause.

Onsite hygiene initiatives remain fully in place and our COVID-19 Crisis Management Team continues to meet daily to react immediately to any new issues or guidance as they occur.

These are unprecedented times in Camvac’s 55-year history but please rest assured that Camvac is and will continue to remain open for business so we can do our part in supplying our critical food and medical markets.

Thank you once more to all our Customers and Suppliers for their continued support!

Greg Kingham

C.E.O.

With the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID19) threat, Camvac’s primary concern is the health and safety of our employees, suppliers, customers and visitors.

As a company we have implemented measures to help protect our employees and visitors against the spread of Cornoavirus. These measure include increased hygiene rules across our site, with specific attention to hand hygiene. All employees are encouraged to wash their hands with soap and warm water at least 5 times per day, for a minimum of 20 seconds. There have also been increased positioning of hand sanitisers across our site.

Along with these increased hygiene rules, the following precautions / actions have been enforced at Camvac:

• All unnecessary work-related travel has been immediately suspended.
• Employees are encouraged to use teleconference facilities and avoid face to face meetings.
• A temporary ban on all visitors to Camvac site is in place until further notice.

Specific measures have been implemented into our warehouse facilities. These include:

• All drivers to wash hands upon entering office buildings.
• Drivers to be restricted to their vehicle as much as possible whilst on Camvac site.
• Recommend a distance of at least 2 metres between the driver and personnel.

As a company we are keeping up to date with government recommendations on a daily basis and communication the advice within our company.

Greg Kingham
CEO
Camvac Limited
16.03.2020