The future direction of the Contract Manufacturing Packing, Fulfilment and Logistics industry was in the spotlight this month at the BCMPA 2024 Conference.
Held at the Delta by Marriott Hotel in Nottingham, over 85 delegates and sponsors attended a series of engaging presentations and panel discussions, geared towards helping co-packers and manufacturers to navigate their way through an ever-changing business landscape.
The Conference prioritised the key themes of the day around the essential role that third-party outsourcing plays in taking products to market, the ongoing packaging and sustainability directives, retailer and brand owner insights, as well as giving delegates the opportunity to network across the day.
BCMPA CEO Emma Verkaik, said: “I was delighted to see so many members and delegates at the BCMPA Conference and to be able to share the important information regarding the many ongoing developments within our industry.
“We were delighted to see such a great turnout and pleased with the positive feedback to our varied programme. It was particularly interesting to hear from representatives from Tesco, Danone and Nestlé on their views around the ways in which collaboration with third parties will help achieve better outcome and how essential our members are in the value chain. It was also fantastic to have the experience of the Packaging experts from OPRL, ProAmpac RAP and Benchmark to give their expert counsel.”
Against the backdrop of the recent General Election, Professor Trevor Williams, ex Chief Economist for Lloyds Bank, delivered a detailed presentation on the global and UK economic risks and prosects beyond 2024. Sustainability continues to be one of the most important considerations for businesses and the conference dealt with several issues, including sustainable packaging design, how to effectively assess a company’s overall environmental impact, and an in-depth explanation of and discussion around the forthcoming Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility EPR) legislation.
In addition, lead Conference sponsor Nulogy, a specialist software provider for the co-packing industry, led an informative discussion panel titled: The benefits of Digitalisation. Moderated by Chief Commercial Officer, Nulogy Europe, Josephine Coombe, the panel aimed to enable brands and their co-packing and co- manufacturing partners to increase agility and resilience in the external supply chain to meet the needs of a volatile market. The need for quick reporting via digitalisation was agreed by many of the speakers to be a requirement for the future to enable them to have data metrics for improved agility and responsiveness. This supported feedback from speakers on sustainability reporting to effecting tracking and traceability and will increasingly form part of the procurement process in the future.
Additionally, delegates received presentations on how automation, and the use of digital stockholding and 3D printing of components can improve operations and efficiencies and avoid costly downtime. The role of exhibitions in supporting the marketing activities for businesses looking to raise their profile to a wider audience, the potential savings of using solar energy, and advice on effective succession planning completed the wide-ranging conference programme.
BCMPA members were impressed with the breadth of content and quality of the speaker programme.
“There was a huge amount of really useful information throughout the day,” said David Patterson, Managing Director, Chester Medical Solutions. “Sustainability is the major area that all our potential clients focus on, and today provided a great amount of additional detail that I was not fully aware of.”
Paul Mitchell, Managing Director of Prism eLogistics (UK) agreed: “There were several topics of the day that I thought would not apply to our business, but which I now realise we do need to look at, so the event has proved to be extremely informative.”
The networking value of the conference was another benefit highlighted by members, as Mark Rose, Business Development Manager of Alexir Co-Packers, confirmed. “This was a great opportunity to meet like-minded people, discuss common challenges, and better understand the direction that the industry is taking,” he said.
Sponsors of the event included Nulogy, and Easyfairs, exhibition organiser of Packaging Innovations and the Contract Pack & Fulfilment Show, together with Acopia Group Ltd, AddParts, Autopack, Benchmark, Element Logic, Keystone Law and Two Blues Solar
Nulogy COO Josephine Coombe said: “Nulogy was proud to sponsor the BCMPA conference and to lead the panel discussion around digitalisation as a future enabler for co-packers and brands to work together. We look forward to supporting the BCMPA on future events.”
Renan Joel, Managing Director, Easyfairs added: “It is vital for any industry to keep looking for solutions and collaborating towards a brighter future. Events like the BCMPA Conference open the conversation to everybody and allow for a tremendous amount of shared learning.”
Verkaik concluded: “I would like to thank all our sponsors, guest presenters and delegates for making the BCMPA 2024 Conference such a successful event. Third-party outsourcing will have its challenges going forward but we are stronger as an industry when we take the time to learn more about the developments and how things might evolve in the future.
“I am delighted that the BCMPA can help to flag these subjects to members and put on networking events that benefit everyone and, importantly, allow members to have a voice and be part of this important dialogue when looking at the future of the contract manufacturing, packing & fulfilment industry.”
