Page 37 - Packaging News magazine November-December 2022

manager at the company, they were initially unsure that they would be able to meet the targets. He told PKN, “Initially they wanted everything within one to two months, with lead time on raw materials we usually need to know months in advance.” After the initial concern of meeting deadlines, forecasts were prepared, and the man- ufacturing could be spread over several months. McAuliffe says, “There were set dates for flights, and the initial panic was that all of those flights were leaving straight away, but as it turns out they were spread out over several months, so we have been able to manu- facture and meet that demand.”
Andrew Buchan, GM Technical and R&D at Jamestrong, commented, “With less than four weeks’ notice for the initial extra orders, our printing and canmaking teams had to move fast to ensure that we met this dead- line. Fortunately, due to us putting in contingency stocks due to the global supply chain crisis, we had sufficient extra materials to respond to the need immediately.”
There is more to “responding to the need” than simply meeting sup- ply. When it comes to the production of baby food, only the highest stan- dards will do, hygiene and safety are non-negotiable. Jamestrong’s specialist infant formula can plant in Kyabram, Victoria, Australia, where the cans are made, has a specialist high hygiene clean room with state-of-the-art, high care facilities ensuring the highest lev- els of precision and protection. While
Due to us putting in contingency stocks due to the global supply chain crisis, we had sufficient extra materials to respond to the need immediately.”
ANDREW BUCHAN, JAMESTRONG PACKAGING
WWW.PACKAGINGNEWS.COM.AU
NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2022 ❙ 37
Above right: Empty shelves – the result of shortages brought on by the pandemic, supply chain challenges and product recalls.
all the cans have been supplied from the Kyabram plant, other Jamestrong facilities involved are the end-making plant in New Zealand and the mate- rial preparation (coating and printing) plant in Sydney.
In 2014, Jamestrong developed a strategy around infant formula food safety that encompassed food safety systems and physical plant for printing, end-making and canmaking, ensuring consistency of quality standards across all parts of the process. In addition, Jamestrong Packaging has achieved accreditation to the globally recog- nised FSSC22000 Food Safety System and ensured compliance with specific compliance requirements and stan- dards, including USFDA Regulations, European Food Safety Regulations and Chinese GB (Guo Bio) Standards.
In July this year, the Australian for- mula manufacturer received formal
confirmation from the Biden admin- istration to position itself for a more permanent presence in the US market; this is good news for Jamestrong.
Buchan says, “The important thing is that we reacted quickly to produce the cans and thank goodness we were able to do that from our stocks of mate- rials. Now that it is a steadier state, we can build that into our plans to meet future deadlines.”
While a $52 million investment that began in 2014 may have just been aimed at the Asia Pacific market, it was a strong foundation upon which Jamestrong Packaging Australia was able to support a major customer.
The confirmation of ongoing orders from the US for Australian-made and packaged infant formula demonstrates that, in this instance, baby steps into a new market should pay dividends for years to come. ■
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