SA business doubles manufacturing after multimillion-dollar investment
A local company is investing reams of money into its local factory to capture growing demand for its SA-made packaging products.
Pope Packaging has invested $50 million in expanding its Woodville-based paper sack manufacturing site, doubling its production capacity and bringing its operations under one roof.
The latest investment is the company’s largest in its history, and it was spent on buying new land, building new facilities, new machinery, and top-of-the-line technology.
The upgraded facility will double Pope Packaging’s printing capacity and increase finished paper sack production by 50 per cent.
Pope Packaging general manager for paper sacks Australia Matt Sullivan said the company had ambitions to “go beyond” its current markets.
“Paper-based packaging has a big future,” he said.
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“We can see trends away from plastic towards more sustainable packaging options, which has given us the confidence to invest behind that pathway.
“It’s our biggest investment in a segment that we can see some growth in.”
Its new high-speed printing press can produce more than 1000 paper sacks per minute in up to eight colours.
The company is now the only Australian manufacturer to produce inner patch paper sack capability, a technique designed to improve bag sealing and reduces leakage and contamination of product.
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Founded in Adelaide in 1956 by the late Des Pope, Pope Packaging is a leading packaging supplies manufacturer, specialising in paper sacks, plastic bags and textile packaging solutions.
While the SA-owned company’s head office is in Melbourne, most of its Australian employees are in Adelaide.
Around 150 employees work at Pope Packaging’s two manufacturing sites at Woodville and Wingfield. The company is family-owned and has clients across Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
They have varied packaging needs for powdery materials like concrete, sugar and grain.
Sullivan said the investment was the company’s third in 14 years, noting the news was bucking “doom and gloom” announcements coming out of SA.
“We feel it’s a good location to have manufacturing capabilities in a segment that doesn’t necessarily get a lot of positive press out there,” he said.
Pope Packaging CEO and chairman Craig Elkington said the investment was expected to create greater security of supply.
“We’re able to provide shorter lead times, greater flexibility and greater security of supply for our customers,” Elkington said.
“For the industrial and food paper sack industry, it means less exposure to overseas supply chain disruptions and greater confidence in a reliable local manufacturing partner.
“Why look to other parts of the world when it’s all available right here in Australia?”
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