A strategy to grow its client base while other companies are tightening belts and cutting costs is leading family owned packager Zacpac to expand its reach across the east coast of Australia with a new $25m factory. Three years ago Zacpac decided to see the aftermath of the GFC as an opportunity rather than a setback, and began carrying out a plan for growth while some competitors streamlined their operations and closed plants down. Fast forward to 2014 and Zacpac has seen between 32 and 35 per cent growth over each of the last three years, and is now in the midst of a massive development, thanks to enticing some plum multinational clients in the food and beverage, personal care and wine markets.
New site: John Zac, CEO of Zacpac (l), with Queensland operations manager Richard Rennison
John Zac, director and general manager, says the expansion is all about living up to the new clients’ expectations while maintaining service for existing customers. He says, “These large customers expect good service, top quality and fast turnaround between order placement and delivery. We have had to come through to give them everything they expect from their supplier. “We are expanding our production areas and spreading them further apart so we can reach all of our customers without having to travel too far.” The 8000sqm purpose-built site in Stapylton, near Queensland’s Gold Coast, will ramp up the company’s production of its corrugated packaging, litho laminated packaging and litho cartons, when it is fully up and running in 2015. The new production hub will complement the company’s existing distribution warehouse on the Gold Coast and shorten turnaround times for customers based as far north as Cairns, all the way down to Melbourne. Zacpac currently has one production plant in Sydney, with more than 180 staff on the factory floor. Zac is working towards growing the new Stapylton site to this level over the next two years. By the end of 2014 the Stapylton site should have 30 employees, up from its current workforce of 17, including eight office staff. For now, machines and equipment are being installed one by one as driveways are finished and footings finalised – and Zac’s 12 month project is well underway with a total investment of $25m. He tells APP, “As we introduce a new machine, we install it and get it up and running. So we are slowly adding the next machine, and the next, and so on, to get production going at the new site. A project like this does not happen overnight.
Installing new machines at the Zacpac site
“As we install new machines we will keep putting on new staff, be it two, maybe three people. Every single new machine means more people employed, and the more jobs we turn over, the more machines and people the company will need.” One of the first machines to go into the Stapylton stable, a BCS Autobox automated custom boxmaker supplied by DES, is now firing out boxes in runs as short as one. The Autobox can manufacture boxes in any size or shape that the customer requires – from a small cupcake box up to a double sized fridge. It shifts from one style or size in around in 60 seconds, and starts producing straight away. Neil Southerington, DES business development manager, says the modular system is available as a full line, with one or two colour flexo print units, autofeeding and delivery modules, that diecut and print the box in one shot. Zacpac is the recipient of the first full installation of this kind in Australia – the machine at the Stapylton plant will produce boxes for the whole group. Zac says the machine suits the company’s focus on shorter runs, which is its main point of difference to large competitors like Visy Board and Orora. He says, “We need to be able to turn things around a lot faster than our competitors and also specialise in shorter runs, which my opposition cannot do; their equipment is all high speed, high volume, high output. “While our machines are also high speed and high output, we go shopping for specific equipment like the Autobox to serve shorter runs. Even with our high speed machines we can produce 250 boxes. Our opposition’s minimum is more like 2500 boxes.
Artist’s impression of the new site
“As well as our big multinational clients, our customers also include the Mum and Dad businesses, working out of rental factories, which buy $10,000 worth of boxes all year. So we have a huge range, from companies buying 150-200 boxes, right up to hundreds of thousands of boxes. “It is a matter of seeing what our clients require, what they want, and looking for the right equipment to fulfil that. We plan accordingly and put it into practice. “Three years ago I decided I wanted to be able to grow when everybody else was feeling the pinch. It is a different way of looking at it, but our business has always grown when everybody else has been reducing. My opposition has eliminated quite a few plants and streamlined a lot of things, so while they are cutting back we are expanding.” He says the short run segment of the market is also largely protected from overseas competitors, which struggle to provide cost-effective short runs within fast turnaround times due to shipping times. Now in its 23rd year, four generations of the Zac family are currently working at Zacpac. The family has been in the packaging game since 1964. Managing director Ed Zac, now 91 years old, heads up the company, with grandson James Foran as manufacturing manager in Sydney and a great-grandson taking care of Zacpac’s scheduling and programming. The company says its mix of experience and youth means it has the drive to succeed in today’s industry, while building long term, loyal relationships with customers. For now the Aussie packager will focus on bringing the new factory up to speed, and will take on new challenges and opportunities as they arise in this rapidly changing industry.
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