Viscount Plastics focuses not only on what the retailer might need in-store but also from the perspective of the supply chain
ITS PRODUCTS can be seen in supermarkets throughout the country in a prominent but, as yet, relatively small way. Yet Viscount Plastics has very little profile outside the plastics moulding industry.
However, its profile is beginning to get traction, with the company recently winning a Supply Chain Influence award at the NZ Packaging Awards.
The gong was won for supply chain efficiencies gained by one of its key customers, Foodstuffs (Wellington), through the use of a returnable transit packaging (RTP) crate, designed specifically for the distribution of poultry. (Returnable Transit Packaging – RTP – describes multi-trip, reusable plastic crates, bins, trays and pallets that worldwide are replacing one-trip cardboard packaging.)
Both sides
Viscount New Zealand’s General Manager, Sean Delaney, whose experience in the grocery industry straddles both sides of the fence, has been a Foodstuffs owner/operator and also a supplier working for New Zealand and global companies based in NZ.
During his 20 years working in the supermarket business, Sean owned Auckland’s Browns Bay New World for over five years. On the supplier side of the fence, he has been national sales manager of J Wattie Foods, GM sales and distribution at New Zealand Dairy Foods, and has spent periods at Procter & Gamble and Cadbury.
This has given Sean experience as both a supplier and a customer when working at the “sharp end” in supermarkets.
Supply chain
Sean says ”For the supermarket industry we are developing a supply chain range and a retail range,” and continues “Viscount will be focussing on (a) what the retailer might need instore and (b) what the retailer might need from the perspective of the supply chain.
“How do we not only take costs out of the supply chain and make it more efficient, but also make it more effective – particularly with hygiene? That is the journey we have started.
“We are also rejigging how we service our customers. So we are looking at rolling out over this year things that have been around the world stage for some time, but in New Zealand have not been utilised.”
He went on “We are particularly focussing on materials handling and things we do really well right now and making sure people are aware that our products are readily available.”
Late last year Viscount also won a contract to work with Foodstuffs Wellington, in supplying approximately 33,000 totes for use in their internal distribution loop for its DC. The totes are a pick’ n pack plastic container.
Packaging side
The packaging side of the business has evolved in leaps and bounds working with major customers like Nestlé, Bakels, and Barkers Foodservice in the South Island. Sean says Viscount’s growth focus will be largely on bulk materials handling and RTP for the supply chain.
“That means enticing people away from the traditional cardboard, tin or wood and replacing them with reusable plastic products,” he says.
Sean says that sometimes plastic gets a bad name in the market, because of a perception that it is not environmental friendly. But careful use, reuse and recycling can see plastics winning sustainability plaudits. He emphasised that sustainability was very important to Viscount Plastics, and that two aspects in particular were a focus for 2010:
The company will use a higher percentage of regrind (recycled plastic) into its production, despite a shortage in this country of available quality regrind material.
“Going forward we are going to revive a programme where, as a crate ends its life, it is bought back from its owner at its residual resin value. Because we know where that resin came from, we can re-use it back into the moulding process, without any question regarding the quality of our products”.
From a sustainability perspective, this is where RTP and plastic win. It circulates around the supply chain for much, much longer, saving significant costs along the way.
“Comparing the life of an average produce crate (8-15 years), relative to the use of a one trip cardboard box, and multiplying that by the number of turns a plastic crate would complete, the savings are significant. And from an environmental perspective, the advantages are even bigger.”
