Pregis opens European packaging innovation centre

Pregis, a leading global manufacturer of protective packaging, has invested in a new 1,960 sq m (21,000 sq ft) customer experience facility in Europe designed to provide a holistic solutions approach to protective packaging challenges and reduce costly waste incurred by damaged products.

The new Pregis innovation headquarters, called the Pregis IQ, is located in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. It will open in April as a customer demonstration and training facility designed to optimise packaging methods.

“Our objective is to provide value-added services to assist brand owners in selecting protective packaging materials and systems that will reduce total cost, achieve sustainability goals and improve packing efficiency to help address labour challenges,” said Paul van Dijk, Marketing & IQ Director, Pregis Europe. “Pregis has always prided itself in being a material-neutral supplier focused on protecting what’s important to our customers. Our broad material and equipment expertise puts us in an ideal position to recommend a solution that is truly in the brand owner’s best interest.”

As companies and brand owners are faced with challenges that range from limited space, labour constraints, increased demand and desire to package with sustainable materials, Pregis says it is able to demonstrate and offer customer centric system-based solutions approach. At the Pregis IQ, visitors can see how protecting products from damage, minimising material usage, improving operational efficiency, creating a positive ergonomic environment for workers and joyful unboxing experience for customers is all possible with the right partner.

“The shift toward e-commerce growth means expanding order mix, greater complexity and more packaging diversity,” van Dijk said. “Labour and seasonality also impact fulfilment operations’ ability to meet orders, complicating packaging and leading to increased damages. Further, network shipping constraints, coupled with increasing costs, are expected to continue. This means to achieve customer loyalty more customisation and unique solutions will be required to adequately compete.

“By engaging the Pregis IQ services, we can take all of these factors into account and recommend the most environmentally preferred option that integrates into a customer’s operations while delivering measurable benefits.”

The European Pregis IQ is in addition to Pregis’ US-based IQ which has been operational since 2019. The expansion will help Pregis unify its consultative approach across North America and Europe.