US-based flexible paper and plastic packaging firm Exopack and European firms Paccor and Kobusch will join Paragon and Britton Group to form the new company. The businesses will operate under the banner of Exopack Holdings, which will have its headquarters in Luxembourg, although all five will retain their individual brand names. Once the merger is complete Exopack Holdings will have 63 plants globally, around 8,650 employees and a turnover of more that $2.5bn. It will be divided into a flexibles division headed by Michael Cronin and a rigid division headed by Paccor chief executive Dieter Bergner. The combined business will be headed up by current Exopack chief executive Jack Knott. “By joining together to form this new entity, we will be better able to serve the needs of our global customers through a manufacturing base spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East and China that enhances our ability to deliver outstanding service,” said Knott. “The larger scale will enable us to accelerate the development and commercialisation of new and differentiated products that offer our customers a competitive advantage,” he added. The merger follows a raft of packaging acquisitions by Sun Capital Partners culminating with the majority share purchase of Paragon Print and Packaging in December last year. In 2005 Sun Capital bought US-based Exopack from the Sterling Group in Houston. Sun Capital’s European arm, Sun European bought German firms Paccor in 2010 and Kobusch in 2011 followed the same year by UK-headquartered Britton Group. “This combination represents a natural next step in a process that began eight years ago to create a global packaging company with a solid foundation for future growth,” said Marc Leder, co-chief executive of Sun Capital Partners. “Building on past collaborations between the companies, the combination will immediately achieve synergies and allow the combined company to more effectively pursue global business.”...

The lifelong Quaker was president from 1965 to 1966 but started his printing career 19 years before that in 1946 when he joined his father’s print firm Ebor Press, where he worked his way up to become managing director. The year he joined the company it won a franchise for self-adhesive labels from American inventor Stan Avery. In 1979 the company went on to acquire Leicester-based label printing form Soabar. Sessions continued to have close contact with the business, which changed its name to William Sessions, until it went into administration in 2010 a year after being put up for sale. Sessions leaves a widow Eva, and three children Sallie, Mark and Michael. The funeral is on 13 May....

BPIF chief executive Kathy Woodward said: “Response to the launch has been fantastic: we have over 250 delegates signed up to the programme and are well on our way to creating a real cross company forum for our young managers. “The breadth of companies participating and the support from every level of management has excelled my expectations.” Content of the two-year course is tailored to the print industry and structured to enable managers and technical specialists to develop management skills and knowledge within their organisations while continuing their full-time roles. The mentored programme consists of eight compulsory modules and eight optional modules leading to an Institute of Leadership and management level 5 Diploma in management (NVQ) and principles of leadership and management (VRQ). Keynote speaker DC Thomson & Co chief executive Ellis Watson urged delegates at the launch to go that extra mile and be “just that bit better and enthusiastic, dynamic and candid in the workplace”, as learners were introduced to their mentors and the programme. The course is being jointly funded with help from the government’s employer ownership programme (EOP) after the BPIF secured £1.1m of funding last year....

The raft of Stahl equipment which was installed last week includes a jogger, pile turner, Transomat downloaders and weighing scales, said bindery manager Marcus Partridge. Stephens & George has three Polar 115XT guillotines, but only two had the Stahl handling kit, Partridge explained. “Two of the three lines had the kit, meaning the standalone Polar became just backup,” he said. “This should improve our productivity by around 20%. “We wanted parity across all three lines, so made this investment. It gives us capacity to cover cutting throughput even during peak periods. It’s a slick and smart way to work.” He said materials handling increased the productivity of the cutter, freeing guillotine operators to cut more sheets by reducing the manual handling involved. Partridge said that the it had the added advantage of boosting confidence in accurately quantifying all products that were cut. He added that the company in Merthyr Tydfil planned to further improve efficiency by installing Heidelberg Postpress Manager to link up with its current MIS and help with shop-floor data...

The raft of Polar equipment which was installed last week includes a jogger, pile turner, Transomat downloaders and weighing scales, said bindery manager Marcus Partridge. Stephens & George has three Polar 115XT guillotines, but only two had the Polar handling kit, Partridge explained. “Two of the three lines had the kit, meaning the standalone Polar became just backup,” he said. “This should improve our productivity by around 20%. “We wanted parity across all three lines, so made this investment. It gives us capacity to cover cutting throughput even during peak periods. It’s a slick and smart way to work.” He said that materials handling increased the productivity of the cutter, freeing guillotine operators to cut more sheets by reducing the manual handling involved. Partridge said that it had the added advantage of boosting confidence in accurately quantifying all products that were cut. He added that the company in Merthyr Tydfil planned to further improve efficiency by installing Heidelberg Postpress Manager to link up with its current MIS and help with shop-floor data collection....