Longstanding Natural Health Products NZ Bronze Sponsor Forbes Packaging has come a long way since its establishment in 1987. Although the family owned and operated business has maintained a traditional caring culture, it is anything but old-fashioned.
National Sales Manager Robert Lye says the company has transformed from a small business to a sophisticated operation that employs nearly 90 people.
“Becoming New Zealand’s only one-stop shop for packaging has seen us invest heavily to ensure our pre-press and print press technologies keep up with ever-evolving customer needs.”
By doing everything from receiving artwork, through to prepress, printing, foiling, embossing, special effects, dye-cutting and gluing, Forbes Packaging can maintain high quality standards throughout the entire packaging development process.
Quality is so important that the company recently gained ISO 9001 (quality management), 14001 (environmental management) and 45001 (health and safety) accreditations.
“These important systems help us to produce high quality packaging. Gaining these accreditations involved spending a lot of time understanding our business and making sure the people we employ understand our expectations and deliver to an excellent standard. For a company to get those three certifications at once is a huge achievement,” says Robert.
Furthermore, the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability has also seen it gain PEFC certification. This means all of its packing is sourced from sustainably managed forests.
“It’s part of our ethos to do everything we can to look after the environment.”
This ties in nicely with what Forbes Packaging’s natural health products industry customers are looking for. Robert says there has been a move towards earthy-looking natural packaging that is recycled and recyclable and/or compostable.
But it’s not all about rustic-looking brown boxes! Robert says Forbes Packing is also equipped to meet highly sophisticated briefs such as nine-colour print jobs and special finishes such as foiling.
“As New Zealand’s only packaging company to provide cold and hot foil finishes, we can perfectly match a product’s label with its packaging.”
“Finishes like this really help products to stand out on the shelves.”