Regulars / Q&A | 51L&L: Amberley Labels was acquired by Coveris in 2019. How “What we haven’t lost is that small has the business changed since then, and what have been the advantages of being part of a multinational converting group?family business mentality. Our DR: At the time of the acquisition, it was recognized that Coveris and Amberley Labels operate in quite different business sectors. They customers still get that. We’ve been focus on fast-moving consumer goods, while Amberley Labels is in a allowed to trade as we are and act completely different sector. Dennis Paterson, president of the Paper business unit at Coveris, allowed Amberley Labels to be Amberley as we are – a local supplier”Labels. Fast-forward to today and we still have our identity, people recognize what we do and what we have done for many years. Our primary focus is cosmetics labels – we are one of the leading with the addition of Coveris’ site in Boston, Lincolnshire, to the suppliers to a world-leading cosmetics and fragrance brand – and this Amberley brand. We work across the two sites and the integration brings a high quality standard that we have to work towards. Dennis has been fantastic. We were three salespeople and now we are up to and the team saw that the business was running well and left us to eleven. It’s a complement to the business and helps us be a one-stop it. What we haven’t lost is that small family business mentality. Our shop to our customers. It’s a great strategy. The Amberley name, since customers still get that. We’ve been allowed to trade as we are and the acquisition, has got bigger and bigger and more people know act as we are – a local supplier. about us, for sure. A huge advantage of being part of Coveris Group has been the support of Dennis and the team. For example, there has been a L&L: Amberley has long been known as a digital pioneer, massive improvement in health and safety, because part of the installing the UK’s frst HP Indigo ws4000 press in 2003. What Coveris stance is ‘safety frst’. That’s the frst thing we think about, so percentage of your work is produced digitally, and what are the we put some real investment here in the site. We’re over fve years specifc advantages that the technology has brought?without a lost-time incident – two and a half years either side of the DR: Eighty percent is digital, on three HP Indigo presses, and the acquisition – so it is a safe place to work. remainder is fexo, printed on the Edale press. That fgure did rise The extra support in human resources and marketing has been a to around 90 percent during the pandemic because most of our great advantage too. The rebrand of the Amberley brand is fantastic – business was going through the HP Indigos. On our Edale press we I absolutely love it. What comes from the acquisition is the resources mainly print peel and read, or coupon labels, of three and fve pages. that can be thrown at supporting such a well-known brand, and This is mostly for lipsticks and make-up, so during the lockdown no actually take it to another level. The perception from the branding is one was out there buying these products because it was all retail. fantastic, and I do believe we match it. There was less demand. But today we are back to our 80/20 split.In the context of the recent strikes and paper shortages, the As for the advantages: it’s not just that it’s digital technology, but differences between being a privately owned business today, to being that it’s HP Indigo technology. Firstly, because of the market we are part of Coveris, is huge. Our buying power and importance to the in – high-end cosmetics labeling – the quality has to be as close as likes of UPM Rafatac and other suppliers means that of course we do possible to litho. The in-line priming means we can literally use any get priority. So that has been a huge beneft. substrate we want, so there are no restrictions. The technology has Coveris Group has a very clear plan that comes directly from our worked well because many of our customers have multiple product CEO Jakob Mosser – and it’s about safety, and people, and the ethics lines. One of our most famous pieces was for Neal’s Yard Remedies. and sustainability of the business. We communicate that well to There are hundreds of products and color schemes, so all that color-every member of staff no matter what their role. matching, all those varieties, how else would you want to do it? They And of course it’s not just our site in Blandford, Dorset, anymore, also required a very fat-looking matte design. You’re not going to Amberley Labels’ site in Blandford, Dorset, houses the Kurz DM-Jetliner in-line with one of three HP Indigo pressesApr - Jun 2022