The closure of the Villawood facility is part of the ongoing integration of the CHH assets acquired by Colorpak in March 2011.
Alex Commins, managing director of Colorpak says this integration initiative will strengthen the economic base of the business and eliminate customer compliance and employee comfort issues associated with the aged Villawood site.
He says, “The Villawood factory was built in the 1960s and the cost to maintain it to the required standards is relatively high. All Villawood production and employees will move to Colorpak’s Regents Park factory by December 2012.”
Colorpak Regents Park is a ‘greenfield’, purpose-built folding carton and flexibles operation established in 2006.
Commins adds, “To accommodate the increased production, Colorpak will lease an additional 4400sqm facility adjacent to the existing Regents Park factory. The existing factory will be reorganised to ensure effective, efficient operations in the new Colorpak Regents Park precinct.
Colorpak employs in excess of 750 people at manufacturing plants in Victoria, New South Wales and Auckland, NZ. It is the leading Australasian folding carton manufacturer and is committed to the sustainable development of industry in its local markets.
Update on the CHH integration and financial performance:
Since taking possession of the Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) folding carton assets in Australia and New Zealand in March 2011, Colorpak has worked methodically to integrate and consolidate the businesses into one coherent operation. In summary:
• Rationalisation of operations in Victoria
• Development of new company branding for Colorpak
• Alignment of systems, operational practices, business disciplines and cultures
Commins continues, “The CHH integration is tracking to plan with the backdrop of a difficult manufacturing environment. A number of adverse factors including manufacturing businesses moving operations offshore, the high Australian dollar and weak consumer spending have affected our profitability in the second half of FY12.
“Despite these difficulties, Colorpak’s full year normalised net profit after tax (NPAT) (results from trading excluding costs of restructuring the operations) is still expected to be maintained at around the level of last year’s NPAT from operations of $7m.”
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