Peacock Bros. | 93Australia’s smart packaging powerhouse Peacock Bros.’ acquisition of fellow Australian converter AMR Hewitts has united 280 years of printing history and created a powerhouse ready to start the smart packaging revolution. Piotr Wnuk reportsn 1888, Ernest Peacock opened a small general printing business “Our businesses are culturally in Collins Street in Melbourne, Australia, with just one platen Ipress. Seeing opportunities within the explosion of business aligned: two great Australian-owned in the new Federation, Peacock developed printing systems and binders – often in gold leaf – which quickly positioned him as a companies with a rich history in printer of quality. Australian manufacturing”Not content with limiting his offering to print system stationery, he gradually expanded the portfolio. Soon, he was trading fling cabinets, manila folders, book-keeping equipment, and even Performance Series, an 8-color machine with GEW UV curing and Millionaire, the frst commercially successful mechanical calculator Harper ceramic anilox rolls of 430mm web width. that could perform a direct multiplication. Peacock Bros. also became the frst company in the region to Since then, innovation has been permanently engraved into invest in an HP Indigo 8000 just a few years later, in 2017, to the company’s operations and is the signature of Peacock Bros. utilize its capacity and high speeds as key to opening new markets. The company developed loose-leaf binders and fling systems for The recent investment in AB Graphic fnishing equipment further doctors, lawyers, real estate agents and payroll systems, as well as strengthen its capabilities.providing printing services for a variety of clients, ranging from local Today, Peacock Bros. is one of the most prominent label schools to major companies such as Coles and Myers supermarkets. manufacturers in the ANZ region, with branches and channel In the 1970s, Peacock Bros. was the agent for the iconic Casio partners across Australia and New Zealand. The company also made hand-held calculator, but it was, in fact, hand-marking machines its name as a regional provider of barcode printers, data capture that pointed the company in another direction. Cartons were and software integration, and software products for warehouse, still being labeled by hand, causing endless problems – it was the logistics, and stock distribution. perfect time to address this need. The books are flled with over 12,000 customers representing With the purchase of a Mark Andy press and producing a a wealth of industries – from manufacturing, distribution, signifcant number of labels for chemicals and addresses, Peacock warehousing, transport and logistics to healthcare.Bros. decided to sell off the general printing business in 1978 and concentrate solely on manufacturing labels and desktop printing Coming togethersystems. The company has recently acquired AMR Hewitts PrintPackaging, a The innovation continued. In 2011 Poland-based Emis, 146-year-old family-owned business specializing in printed carton manufacturer of the Flexor line of inspection slitter rewinders packaging. It operates with over 35 staff members based in Victoria, installed a die-cutting and converting machine at the Australian Australia, primarily servicing packaging customers in pharma converter’s Melbourne headquarters – the frst such machine in and food and beverage, including well-known brands like Aspen the country. That same year Peacock invested in a Mark Andy P7 Pharmacare Australia, Ferndale Foods, and BIC Australia.AMR Hewitts is regarded as one of Australia’s pioneers and industry leaders in printed carton packagingJul - Sep 2022