Seeking diversity and inclusion at work comes in many forms, with the increasing understanding that corporate life is not the only way to have a successful career. As previously stuffy corporate companies embrace flexible working and integrate well-being into HR policies, so too do family-owned companies appreciate that boundaries and targets help tangible results. Yet there are lessons to be learned from all approaches, with perhaps the most valuable the acceptance that everyone can learn something from someone.
While mergers and acquisitions can have the reputation of asset stripping for short-term gain for a small number of shareholders, the most beneficial way is for the essence of the business to be maintained and for as much as possible to carry on as normal. Acquiring expertise valued alongside acquiring equipment. Appreciating people as well as property and products.
Global plastic packaging manufacturer RETAL is one of the largest suppliers of packaging solutions in Romania, coming closely behind local producers. With the advantages of its multinational network of factories, sales teams, R&D experts and after sales, the RETAL capabilities bring the best of local knowledge of the Romanian market together with its wider support infrastructure.
Working with customers in Romania for over a decade, RETAL has proudly developed strong relationships with brand owners and local producers across the country, with a particular focus on water, juice and edible oils. RETAL sales manager Sergey Berov has an in-depth understanding of the Romanian market from both a professional and personal perspective, and it is his closeness to the country’s packaging needs that enables him and his team to deliver the best service.
Berov tells: “We have been continually developing our market share in Romanian over the last 10 years, and our significant growth has seen RETAL selling around 15% of the PET packaging demand in the country. Many of our customers have grown with us and we are delighted to be considered a packaging partner rather than just a supplier.”
With a strong balance of local and global customers across its activities in 70 countries worldwide, RETAL brings its proven experience of working with brand owners of all sizes to every market.
Berov adds, “In our first decade in Romania we have mainly collaborated with local customers, working together to create and produce PET and rPET preforms. We are expanding our roster to include the local needs of global brands too, which fits well with our long-standing capabilities in other regions and enables us to bring our local knowledge for the advantage of our household name brands.”
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Staying still is not an option in the packaging industry. Repeating the same techniques and offering the same ideas doesn’t mean timeless quality, but rather outdated concepts that don’t embrace progress. But that doesn’t mean everything has to be ‘disruptive’ right? Emma-Jane Batey looks at how valuing great design, customer communication and service is always in fashion.
The pace with which packaging trends change is illustrative of the role that packaging plays in the FMCG sector. The huge growth in markets including hard seltzer, vegan snacking and high protein is largely supported by the packaging choices that these brands make, and the packaging partners they choose. While the trend for ‘game changing’ and ‘disruptive’ packaging across all F&B packaging sectors are unlikely to disappear any time soon, the scrabble for new can sometimes mean that great gets lost.
The value of PET is clear thanks to Austrian social enterprise HELIOZ, which is committed to bringing safe drinking water to rural communities.
HELIOZ works with global plastic packaging producers to ensure PET water bottles are available in the communities in which the project is active, including parts of India and Uganda, so uncontaminated drinking water can be accessed by the people that need it.
Alina Eglhofer, HELIOZ marketing & communications, explains, “HELIOZ works with plastic packaging partners like RETAL; the PET bottles are a vital part of our toolkit, alongside WADI, our solar powered UV device that measures the solar disinfection of the contaminated water. PET bottles are used repeatedly over a six-month period to provide clean drinking water to communities that do not have easy access to what we take for granted, and then the bottles are recycled by our local partners; nothing is thrown away, everything has value.”
RETAL is delighted to support HELIOZ in its mission, with the ongoing lessons learned such as appreciating that so-called ‘single use plastics’ are anything but, and that local collection of used plastics bring opportunities for businesses as well as the environment. Emmanuel Duffaut, RETAL Sustainability Director, adds, “We are all inspired by the HELIOZ team and their dedication to empowering the local communities in which they work, as well as the acceptance that the local people instinctively see value instead of waste. RETAL is delighted to be partner to HELIOZ as we are keen to be involved with community projects that appreciate natural resources and cleverly utilize the value of PET, as well as raising awareness of PET recycling and collection.”
Read online at SP News
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RETAL design engineer Andzejus Buinovskis presented at the AMI Plastic Closures Innovations Virtual Summit on 2nd – 3rd June, with his informative presentation provoking interesting questions in the Q&A session.
Andzejus created a video presentation highlighting his insight on the RETAL tethered closures journey and the circular economy. “I shared how RETAL has developed a series of tethered closures in accordance with the list of requirements from the leading brand owners. I was determined to add more personal insight too as everyone presenting was working to the same set of criteria.”
This smart approach led Andzejus to highlight how collecting and recycling play a key role in the circular economy, as well as showing how reusing molds is a big contributor to sustainable development. He adds, “I was also pleased to include details of how Lithuania has integrated deposit schemes and that 80% of bottles come with the closures attached – even though they’re not tethered!”
The ‘immersive virtual event’ was attended by leading brand representatives, equipment manufacturers, and packaging producers, with the presentations and following discussions showing how the focus on tethered closures, lightweighting, and the circular economy is still at the forefront of the packaging and beverage industry drivers.
Read online at Business Focus
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RETAL Baltic and RETAL Lithuania have both been awarded two wings from the Equal Opportunity Wings initiative, which operates in partnership with the Human Rights Monitoring Institute.
Equal Opportunity Wings - up to a maximum of three – are awarded as acknowledgment of an organisation’s achievements in ‘mainstreaming equal opportunities in the workplace and creating a diverse and inclusive culture’.
Ruta Ziliene, HR Director for Europe/US, explains, “RETAL Baltic was approved for two wings out of three. We are pleased to have gained two wings at our first assessment and look forward to gaining our third wing as we continue to improve: our next step is to make a deeper analysis of the situation of equal opportunities in the company, and after to prepare and implement an Equality Plan. And we have no doubt that we are on the right path.”
Simona Zuriene, HR manager at RETAL Lithuania, says, “These two wings show that we are really starting to fly when it comes to the working conditions of our employees. We have more to do and we are working hard to make it happen, for the good of our people and our business.”
Sustainability Director Emmanuel Duffaut is highly supportive of this initiative. He adds, “I am very glad to see the combined efforts of RETAL Baltic HR and RETAL group CSR being recognised in this official capacity. I am confident that the RBA equality plan, together with the upcoming anonymous whistle blowing channel, our Anti-discrimination policy, and awareness activities will get us the missing wing next year.”
The value of PET is clear thanks to Austrian social enterprise HELIOZ, which is committed to bringing safe drinking water to rural communities.
HELIOZ works with global plastic packaging producers to ensure PET water bottles are available in the communities in which the project is active, including parts of India and Uganda, so uncontaminated drinking water can be accessed by the people that need it.
Alina Eglhofer, HELIOZ marketing & communications, explains, “HELIOZ works with plastic packaging partners like RETAL; the PET bottles are a vital part of our toolkit, alongside WADI, our solar powered UV device that measures the solar disinfection of the contaminated water. PET bottles are used repeatedly over a six-month period to provide clean drinking water to communities that do not have easy access to what we take for granted, and then the bottles are recycled by our local partners; nothing is thrown away, everything has value.”
RETAL is delighted to support HELIOZ in its mission, with the ongoing lessons learned such as appreciating that so-called 'single use plastics' are anything but, and that local collection of used plastics bring opportunities for businesses as well as the environment. Emmanuel Duffaut, RETAL Sustainability Director, adds, “We are all inspired by the HELIOZ team and their dedication to empowering the local communities in which they work, as well as the acceptance that the local people instinctively see value instead of waste. RETAL is delighted to be partner to HELIOZ as we are keen to be involved with community projects that appreciate natural resources and cleverly utilize the value of PET, as well as raising awareness of PET recycling and collection.”
RETAL design engineer Andzejus Buinovskis presented at the AMI Plastic Closures Innovations Virtual Summit on 2nd - 3rd June, with his informative presentation provoking interesting questions in the Q&A session.
Andzejus created a video presentation highlighting his insight on the RETAL tethered closures journey and the circular economy. “I shared how RETAL has developed a series of tethered closures in accordance with the list of requirements from the leading brand owners. I was determined to add more personal insight too as everyone presenting was working to the same set of criteria.”
This smart approach lead Andzejus to highlight how collecting and recycling play a key role in the circular economy, as well as showing how reusing molds is a big contributor to sustainable development. He adds, “I was also pleased to include details of how Lithuania has integrated deposit schemes and that 80% of bottles come with the closures attached – even though they’re not tethered!”
The 'immersive virtual event' was attended by leading brand representatives, equipment manufacturers and packaging producers, with the presentations and following discussions showing how the focus on tethered closures, lightweighting and the circular economy are still at the forefront of packaging and beverage industry drivers.
Retal’s US plant, Retal PA in Donora, PA, reports increased productivity across their operation. CEO and president Darius Janulionus, who took over the running of the fast-growing plant from his role as production director for Retal Lithuania, says, “Of course we all know that 2020 was full of challenges, and 2021 is still not plain sailing, but thanks to the strength and hard work of our team, we can happily say that we have achieved better than hoped for results. We have seen increased productivity across our operation, which is largely due to the team working together, utilising opportunities to share our expertise and listening closely to our customers’ changing needs. Staying agile has been crucial.”
The sales team is led by chemical engineer Bob Phillips, a well-known face in the US plastic packaging industry, alongside sales coordinator Brittany Brooks and latest recruit Vlad Nyemstov. Biochemist Brittany worked in the RPA quality laboratory prior to joining the sales team and brings knowledge about preform production. The latest addition to the RPA sales team is Vlad Nyemstov, an Ukraine native who has lived in the US for five years. The Programming Engineer joined Retal in the middle of February.
Read online at PetPlanet
The packaging industry offers a microcosm of the corporate world when it comes to career opportunities. The broad range of careers available in plastics packaging manufacturing allows for extensive professional development, in a sector that is proudly embracing the vocal demands of the brands and consumers that are its active stakeholders. Not to mention the fact that the manufacturers themselves are keen to be sustainable from both a business and an environmental perspective.
This joint focus of responsibility allows for interesting careers across the various functions of a plastics packaging converter, as Anthony Langel, finance manager for Retal PA – the Pennsylvania, US facility of global plastics packaging producer Retal – knows only too well. Langel joined the company in 2019, having spent the majority of his early career in financial consulting to the IT industry. With a finance degree and an MBA that focused on the industrial sector, Anthony has more than a decade of experience in professional environments.
But what made him move into the packaging industry? “My initial finance career developed through consulting for small businesses that did not have their own financial department, which gave me a great insight into all aspects of finance for commercial operations as well as a real ‘in at the deep end’ experience! I valued the chance to learn quickly and to speak directly with the people at the head of the businesses I was consulting for, as this meant I saw the workings of a range of types of company, from real estate to construction, to industrial.”
This close contact with decision makers has given Langel the chance to see how businesses can be more profitable, and how to action that in practical ways. He explains: “I have an affinity for cost accounting; revenue vs net costs, gross margin issues…lots of businesses can look at the money they’re bringing in without looking at the value. For example, with one client I realised that they were paying a per diem on payroll for armed security guards, yet this brought with it additional costs of insurance and added risk, and yet the need for armed security was not necessary. I like to find real world examples of how money is being spent and analyse if that is the most effective way; where figures cross over with value.”
Langel initially contacted Retal after seeing a job advert for a finance manager that he only had seven of the requisite 10 years’ experience for. Although not initially called for interview, the HR manager saw his clear career progression and set up an interview for a position when the previous finance manager left.
“I feel like we both benefited as I was able to show how keen I was to be part of a global business and the HR manager could see that I was positive and ready to learn more about the specifics of their business,” adds Langel.
Read online at Plastics in Packaging