Jim Segers says that they consciously chose to serve a lot of sectors. "In reality, almost everyone needs packaging. Our target market is therefore very wide. The largest buyers are industry and food. Of course, we have the necessary knowledge of the branches we supply to. The fruit and vegetable sector has become increasingly important in recent years. At the moment the share of packaging for the fruit and vegetable sector is around 25-30%."
100 million trays
J&S supplies directly to various supermarket chains, auctions and wholesalers. "The fruit and vegetable sector isn't an easy sector, but we see it as a challenge. We started in Sint-Truiden. We currently have 2,500 squares metres of stations here. In Sint-Katelijne-Waver the surface is 4,500 square metres. It all started with small trays for the top fruit. We slowly grew in this and now we supply packaging for all kinds of fruit and vegetable products. The main ones we produce are trays. Last year we made around 100 million trays for this sector. We are a slightly smaller player in large trays. We do around 4.5 million of them per year at the moment."
Corrugated cardboard
J&S mainly profiles itself in corrugated cardboard, but also offers solid. "The advantage of corrugated cardboard is that you can produce the same strong box with lighter papers. This means there is less paper in circulation, so it's more environmentally friendly. It costs more to produce, but because you're using less paper, we can handle the competition with solid cardboard. We notice that the demand is increasing. The organic sector is also choosing corrugated cardboard packaging more often."
"We are always looking for new kinds and new innovative packaging for the fruit and vegetable sector. A few years ago, for instance, we introduced the N-wave into the fruit and vegetable market. This is corrugated cardboard with the same thickness as solid cardboard, 0.6 mm, which reduces stockage and transport costs to a minimum. N-wave is so flat that almost no difference can be seen with solid cardboard. There are now multiple producers, but we were the first to put it on the market in the fruit and vegetable sector here. There are a lot of different thickness' of corrugated cardboard. It goes from A to G and since recently from the thinnest N-wave to double waves. The type of product determines the thickness of the cardboard."
"We do have the 'washboard effect' to deal with with corrugated carton. We can't prevent this for thicker types of corrugated carton, but this is reduced to a minimum with the thin N-wave," he explains.
"We do have the 'washboard effect' to deal with with corrugated carton. We can't prevent this for thicker types of corrugated carton, but this is reduced to a minimum with the thin N-wave," he explains.
Left Steve and Jim Segers
More small packaging
He expects the demand for corrugated cardboard to continue to rise. "We are still seeing good growing figures every year. Corrugated cardboard is cheaper for large volumes. Companies sometimes choose solid cardboard because it's more moisture resistant. So this is interesting for some damp products. All kinds of coatings to ward off moisture are used on corrugated cardboard and this often works well." Jim mainly sees growth in the small packaging, the trays. "Partially due to the difficult year in fruit due to the Russia embargo there is an increasing trend for small packaging. More promos are done and I expect this trend to continue. Cardboard trays are also used to make various fruit or vegetable combinations for certain dishes. This will only increase. This is why we will continue to invest in machines for small packaging this year." Besides small packaging he also sees chances for displays in the fruit and vegetable sector. "To put a product in the spotlight and to differentiate more from other products, nice displays are being used in the sector more and more."
Future
He doesn't see a change in the types of packaging in the near future. "At the moment there are tests being done with tomato stalks and cane sugar, but it will be a while before this is actually on the market. The demand has to be there and the supply of this paper is very low. The product is also still very expensive at the moment." He sees that there is a big price battle going on in the Netherlands. "This is mainly due to the supermarkets, who demand that the prices go down even more." It is becoming harder to define yourself as a packaging company, but we remain optimistic. Supplying personalised products to our customers in time: that's our goal."
For more information:
J&S Packaging nv
Rue du Fundus 13 - Zoning II
B-7822 Ghislenghien
Tel.: +32 (0)68 84 38 74
Fax: +32 (0)68 84 38 81
info@j-and-s-packaging.com
www.j-and-s-packaging.com