DS Smith is increasing its innovation footprint in the Polish marketplace with an investment of over €25m in its production lines and machinery parks in Kielce, Bełchatów, and Sosnowiec. These investments are part of DS Smith’s growth strategy in Central and Eastern Europe and commitment to leading an industry-wide transition to sustainable packaging solutions for customers in the region.
The company has allocated €22m to the expansion of its packaging facility in Kielce which has been equipped with the highest quality machines. The machinery, including the installation of a new BOBST MASTERLINE 2.1 die-cutter, will allow for the greater automatisation and precision of production process in the converting department.
In addition, DS Smith has created a new production line for the DS Smith Easy Bowl solution for fresh food in its Belchatów packaging facility, and the company has invested in machinery to produce sustainable fibre-based paper bags for the e-commerce sector at its packaging facility in Sosnowiec.
DS Smith’s Belchatów packaging facility.
Reinier Schlatmann, Regional Managing Director, Packaging Division, Eastern Europe, DS Smith, said, “We are continuing a series of investments in DS Smith’s operations in Poland and reinforcing our market position in the region. By enhancing our production capabilities, we are able to provide our customers, leading fast-moving consumer goods brands, major retailers, ecommerce entities, and industrial companies, with increased options for recyclable and circular solutions that will help them to achieve their sustainability targets and support consumer demand for sustainable change. In line with this, at DS Smith, we have recently reached a key sustainability milestone by replacing more than one billion pieces of plastic in partnership with our customers in advance of our Now & Next sustainability strategy target that was set for 2025”.
Innovative Fresh Food tray
As shoppers actively seek out packaging made from recyclable materials, DS Smith customers are responding to consumer expectations around sustainable packaging products and seeking to move towards a circular economy.
DS Smith Easy Bowl packaging solution is produced by DS Smith’s state-of-the-art innovation and production facility at Bełchatów and is an example of DS Smith’s partnership with customers to meet this demand. The design has been innovated as a fibre-based alternative to plastic trays and is intended for fresh products such as meat, fish, meat substitutes, and ready meals.
The solution has capacity to achieve up to an 85% reduction in plastic usage compared to conventional plastic trays, and the new machinery is expected to boost production line efficiency and capacity by around twenty-four million pieces a year.
Paper bags for e-commerce
Research has shown that consumers are increasingly turning their attention to brands’ environmental behaviour, which includes how the products are packaged and transported. As many as 40% of consumers of the rising ecommerce channel indicated that they have received a shipment that was too large in relation to the product shipped. Similarly, 43% of consumers indicated a belief that the seller had used too much plastic adhesive tape for packaging.
DS Smith’s innovative paper bags, which are being produced in its Bełchatów packaging facility, are designed to provide a perfect blend of recyclability, durability, and practicality. The facility was opened in 2022 to offer sustainable packaging solutions for customers in the FMCG, industrial, and ecommerce sectors and to provide them with the opportunity to order consignments of fibre-based paper bag packaging solutions at high-volume.
New machinery for Kielce
The newly installed machinery in the DS Smith facility in Kielce, is dedicated to the production of solid laminated cardboard packaging solutions and available to customers in industrial and FMCG sectors. It is engineered to facilitate complex projects and high-quality printing and finishing processes that are individually tailored and bespoke for each packaging solution.
DS Smith’s facility in Kielce.
Katarzyna Kala-Kowalska, Sales Director, Board Member, DS Smith Poland, said, “We are thrilled about these investments which are enhancing our machinery capabilities and production capacity. They are empowering our team to deliver innovative packaging solutions and improve quality control that minimises waste. The advanced technologies combined with our Circular Design Metrics capabilities and innovation led approach to design, make it possible for us to meet a wider range of requirements, and reinforce DS Smith’s position as a leading provider of sustainable packaging solutions in the region.”
It is anticipated that the investments will enable DS Smith to increase its annual packaging production capacity in Poland by approximately 25 million sqm, and that of glued boxes by 7.5 million sqm. The company is committed to the innovation of sustainable and circular packaging solutions for customers in the region with plastic elimination and CO2 reduction at the forefront of its planning and strategy.
