DS Smith Opens New PackRight Centre in Kaarst

A successful concept prevails: DS Smith has just opened its fifth PackRight Centre in the Germany & Switzerland region in Kaarst, close to the Düsseldorf metropolitan area.

The PackRight Centre concept - the first of its kind in the industry - is focused on creating individual display and packaging solutions while taking into consideration all aspects of each customer's respective supply cycle. The result is a significantly shorter time-to-market as well as real added value for the company's customers.

A little over one year ago, DS Smith opened the first PackRight Centre of the Germany & Switzerland region in Hamburg. More centres followed: in Erlensee in the Rhine-Main area, in Pulheim, and in the Swiss town of Oftringen. Together with about 70 invited guests, the company is now celebrating the inauguration of the fifth PackRight Centre, built at the Kaarst location in the Düsseldorf metropolitan area.

Per V Frederiksen, Managing Director DS Smith Germany & Switzerland, said: “I am overjoyed to open another PackRight Centre in our region. The centres are extremely well-received by our customers, which only goes to show that we are heading in the right direction with our unique concept to increase value creation for our customers.”

Stefan Eller, Customer Excellence Director at DS Smith, pointed out: “Customer representatives from different fields get together with DS Smith designers in the workshops held in our DS Smith PackRight Centres. This not only helps to shed light on the supply cycle from all angles, it also makes internal coordination processes much easier for our customers, because their own experts are directly involved in the development and can make contributions from their respective areas of expertise.”

Even before the official opening, some customers seized the opportunity to hold workshops in the new DS Smith PackRight Centre in Kaarst. During the inauguration ceremony, they related some of their experience.

“At first it required some effort to block an entire day for a workshop, and for several colleagues at once, regarding daily business and looming deadlines,” says Jasmin Skorupa, Junior Trade Marketing Manager at KNIPEX, the world's leading brand in pliers. “What fully convinced us was the speed, because we reached a concrete result after only one day, and the quality of the solution we had reached. The conditions at the PackRight Centre are optimum, and the DS Smith employees contributed at lot of know-how. At the end, everyone agreed that the solution we had found was more than worth the time we invested. We are therefore sure to reach out to DS Smith again for future projects to make use of the possibilities and expertise they offer.”

Afterwards, a tour gave all participants the chance to see the premises for themselves. Jörg Schützeichel, manager of the Kaarst PackRight Centre, also gave some insight regarding the methods, creative techniques, and technological possibilities at the centre.

In our workshops at the PackRight Centre, we can show our customers in just one day what they can achieve with the right packaging or display .

“One result for our customers, who mainly hail from the FMCG area, is a significantly shorter time-to-market. In addition, the solutions we find here generate more sales at the point of sale, lower costs, and reduced risks and supply cycle complexity”emphasises Frederiksen.

And the success story continues: the opening of another DS Smith PackRight Centre in the Germany & Switzerland region is already in the works.