BillerudKorsnäs, a Swedish company, specializes in sustainable cartonboard and packaging solutions for luxury brands, in industries including cosmetics and personal care. Having opened US offices in Chicago, Illinois, BillerudKorsnäs is now actively partnering with cosmetics and personal care brand owners as well as with converters (those companies that turn packaging materials into packaging); and the team made good use of the LuxePack event to foster these new relationships.
By the end of next year the company will have a lot more material to supply this region with. According to business development director Inger Heinke, BillerudKorsnäs is building a new multi-million dollar production machine in Sweden, and by (or before) December of 2018 as much as 20% of that machine’s output will be earmarked for the US market.
The company anticipates being able to serve regional clients just as a local supplier here in the US would, by strategically warehousing product, replenishing the basic offerings on a monthly basis, and helping clients meet speed-to-market objectives by delivering new product from the mill with about 6 weeks lead time, according to Heinke.
Quality and design
BillerudKorsnäs hopes to distinguish itself from North American material companies with its 4-ply carton board, which is a mix of hard wood and soft wood, Heinke tells Cosmetics Design. This construction gives the BillerudKorsnäs product a stronger, stiffer—but lighter weight—construction, she explains.
The company’s Carton Solutions Design team provides clients with packaging engineering services tailored for the luxury market, rather than standard consumer goods packaging, says Heinke. The team, she adds, is adept at developing packaging that optimizes the materials, meets brand-specific needs, and is conceptually on trend.
Sustainable supply chain
“A greater environmental awareness and sustainability focus is driving consumer demand for minimizing all sorts of waste, littering and overconsumption. Conscious consumers want to be a part of the solution – not the problem,” believes Magnus Levinsson, cartonboard business segment director for BillerudKorsnäs, who shared comments about the company’s sustainable packaging business in a media release circulated in advance of LuxePack.
Fittingly, sustainability is fundamental part of the BillerudKorsnäs business. The company sources it’s raw materials from woods in only a 60 mile radius of the mill, and in that forest, explains Heinke, growth outpaces harvesting. So the company boasts a low carbon footprint.
The company’s ability to create strong packaging with less material adds to this advantage. Another part of the sustainability story at BillerudKorsnäs is steam energy, which powers the company’s mills facility in Sweeden and the full company uses less than 3% fossil fuel, according to Heinke.