DS Smith to construct new plant in Erlensee, Germany, to support growth in company's display and consumer packaging portfolio; company to close its current plant in Hanau-Steinheim and consolidate operations into new site

Mathew Kearney

BERKSHIRE, England , April 17, 2014 (press release) – DS Smith announces further investments to improve on its ability to serve the demands of customers across the D-A-CH region. The largest project will be the construction of a new plant in Erlensee, located in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis region of Germany. The current plant in Hanau-Steinheim will move to the new location, which is less than 10 kilometers from the existing plant. With the new facility, DS Smith builds the foundation for further growth in the areas of display and consumer packaging.

“Being a specialist for consumer packaging, displays and strategic supply cycle solutions, it is our goal to delight our customers. Today’s changing markets mean that we need to adapt to continue to meet their requirement for high quality, competitive solutions”, states Michael Lamprecht, Director Sales & Marketing at DS Smith l Packaging Division D-A-CH.

“We are therefore investing in the latest corrugating and converting equipment, and fully-optimized logistics facilities, to provide the best possible flexibility and competitiveness for current and potential customers.”

The plant in Hanau-Steinheim has had a long and proud history, but its physical location in a “mixed-zone” area means that the site can no longer meet the requirements of a highly efficient industrial business model. It has also been decided that the display activities of DS Smith in Germany needed to be strategically repositioned and consolidated at a central location to maximize efficiency and flexibility. For these reasons, DS Smith searched for a new location and found it on the site of the former “Fliegerhorst” in Erlensee.

Of the 87.000sqm of land available at the new site, production and logistics facilities will cover around 40.000sqm. There will also be presentation suites for customers, together with offices and social facilities for DS Smith employees. Production start-up on the new site is scheduled for the first half of 2015.

“With the new plant, we will strengthen our display competence, by merging all our production under one roof. Our customers will continue to benefit from their usual contacts in sales, customer service and solution development, but with one location we are able to reduce supply chain complexity and optimize logistics”, emphasizes Georg Staub, Strategic Business Development Director, and the project manager for the new investment.

“Our mission is to work in close cooperation with customers to find solutions that increase their sales, reduce their costs and manage their risks. This exciting project will give DS Smith all the tools to continue to deliver on our mission for many years to come”.

DS Smith is one of the leading providers of packaging and displays in Europe. In 2012, the company employed nearly 2,800 people in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The packaging and display specialist‘s product portfolio includes high quality consumer packaging, intelligent transport, industrial and hazardous goods packaging, creative displays and promotional material as well as a broad range of consultancy services across the entire supply cycle.

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