Skymark Packaging

for sustainable packaging

Established in 1987, Skymark Packaging International has been at the forefront of delivering innovative, quality, packaging solutions on a ‘just-in-time’ basis across diverse markets. In September 2023, the company became part of the TOPPAN family, strengthening its commitments to sustainable packaging and putting the customer first. Hannah Barnett spoke to Sales and Marketing Director Dan Richards to find out more.

Throughout the industry, Skymark is renowned for exceptional product quality, rapid and flexible responses, and pioneering solutions. The company’s expansive manufacturing capabilities encompass recyclable cast and blown films, flexographic printing, solventless lamination, slitting, laser easy-open and scribing features, conversion, and an inhouse and medical, 8%: fully accredited recycling process.

Over the years, the company has focused on acquisition and growth, while putting its customers’ requirements before any thing else.

“The fundamental premise of what we’ve built has always been about inno -

vation and delivering what the customer needs,” said Sales and Marketing Director Dan Richards. “This allows us to remain a dynamic, developing and innovative privately held business.”

Skymark’s turnover is around £30 million. This is split into four key sectors in which personal care is the biggest, accounting for around 61%. Technical films make up about 26%, hygiene and medical, 8% and the company is growing within the food sector, which is currently 5% of overall turnover.

The company employs 175 people at its Scunthorpe facility, where it has the capacity to produce 12,000 tonnes of material a year. Customer loyalty is highly

valued, with 40% of current partners having worked alongside Skymark for over 15 years. “I think that speaks volumes in terms of our commitment to partnerships, long-term agreements and development alongside our customers,” said Mr Richards.

An ever-evolving dynamic

An important milestone in the growth of the company was reached in September 2023, when Skymark was acquired by global Japanese printing company TOPPAN, as part of the latter’s InterFlex Group subsidiary. It has already proved a productive alliance, with both sides bringing something to the table.

“Our two previous owners, John Turner and Mehrdad Toofanian, prioritised having a partnership that could continue Skymark’s growth, strategy and vision,”

said Mr Richards. “They weren’t interested in just selling, they wanted to ensure what they built survived. And TOPPAN shares the values of our mission statement regarding personalised collaboration and the drive towards sustainability.”

Indeed, Skymark has found plenty of alignments with TOPPAN’s approach. These include mitigation of the plastic tax and investment in the development of recycled films, material reduction and lightweighting. Skymark’s expertise in the field has even enabled TOPPAN subsidiary InterFlex to improve its sustainability agenda.

“Skymark has its own extrusion facilities,” Mr Richards explained. “We’re vertically integrated and so can now supply the InterFlex site with films. That creates a much better closed-loop recycling stream, because Skymark has a fully accredited

waste-processing facility. So, we can take our post-industrial scrap, and scrap from InterFlex, and reprocess it within our own four walls. That has a massive impact on carbon footprint, waste reduction and putting higher quality material back into our products.”

Sustainable synergies

The synergy between the companies extends to wider decarbonisation measures, including studying granular level CO2 emissions. Skymark has installed monitors at its facilities to analyse energy consumption and is a member of the SME Climate Hub. This membership requires Skymark to calculate and report its carbon footprint.

As Mr Richards explained: “This means if a customer asks for information on a range of products, plus the carbon footprint against each one, then they can make not only a commercial or technical

decision, but a sustainable one. Working alongside TOPPAN, which is also committed to monitoring carbon emissions, we are able to deliver that.”

For its sustainability strategy, Skymark focuses on four key areas: reduce, regenerate, recycle and renew. “They’re the four pillars not too dissimilar to many in the industry,” said Mr Richards. “But we have very specific agendas.”

Around 55% of Skymark’s portfolio now contains 30% or more recycled content.

SKYMARK PACKAGING I PROFILE

T he target is to reach 90% of products made with at least partially recycled content within the next few years.

“We’ve really invested in our extrusion capabilities and our reclaim unit, to be able to reprocess recycled content,” said Mr Richards. “But we are also looking at different avenues, such as ISCC accreditation, which InterFlex already has. That’s another synergy that will allow Skymark to use accredited polymer alternatives like bio-based resins.”

Working for the customer

It is clear that Skymark values relationships with its customers that are personalised, flexible and reflect the constantly evolving market.

“If you look at how we approach Key Account Management, we really try and

embed ourselves with our customers at every level:” Mr Richards explained, “not just from an account management point of view, but with their technical team, the warehouse operators, machine technicians, their R&D department and their branding. This means we can create something that enables them to deliver the message they want to their consumers.

“When we started doing toilet tissue packaging it was 50 microns of film, and we’re now down to 25 microns at 50 per cent PCR. So, the innovation there is quite clear. And now, with the acquisition, and through the connections that we have across TOPPAN group, we can deliver that technology further throughout Europe and to North America.”

Skymark is keen to maintain similarly strong partnerships with its supply chain.

The company’s relationships with suppliers are based around fairness and integrity, making working with Skymark more than just a commercial decision.

“It’s easy enough go out to the marketplace and get the best price,” said Mr Richards, “but having security of supply and trusted partners is key to our success. Now, with InterFlex and TOPPAN our network is widened. There is a massive synergy, and we share common suppliers – meaning we can join forces and offer something even better.”

Skymark is set to continue its growth strategy focused on delivering to customers exactly what they want. Being sustainable in the modern market requires flexibility, and as Mr Richards reflected, there is no simple solution: “We did a project for one of our key customers where we ended up taking something like 400 tonnes of packaging out of their usage. As a packaging company, that is 400 tonnes in lost revenue for us. But we delivered what the customer asked for.

“Our commitment is to create sustainable packaging solutions. And there is no simple answer to the complicated question of what sustainable packaging really is. It depends on a wide spectrum. Brand owners and retailers might have individual objectives and they all want to have something slightly different from their competitor. No one is right or wrong, but of course, our objective remains being flexible and dynamic enough to meet those requirements.

“We always have to remember that our customer-centric approach is what got the company to where it is now.” n