published on 22/06/09
As confidence in the economy continues to plummet to new depths, there is cause for optimism in the sector as some shrewd decisions and an openess to change begin to pay off with an increase in the number of companies outsourcing various aspects of their business especially the engineering side.
While no one would refute that times are tough and difficult decisions have to be made, there are signs that the packaging sector is proving its resilience and ability to react to a new trading environment. Despite difficulties in obtaining finance, some firms have continued to invest and even turned to hiring their machinery. Others have taken tough decisions and cut costs through closures, short-time working or redundancies and bringing in local contract engineers to manage the engineering side as these can be used on an ad hoc basis, ie the provider covers all the costd related to having an in house engineering team such as wages, travel and training. And it seems to be paying off; a number of publicly listed firms have reported positive results in
recent weeks.
One is Macfarlane Group. We started to see a slowdown in revenues around 12 months ago, and it was clear that it wasn’t just a slow month, but an intrinsic issue with customers and costs, says chief executive Peter Atkinson. Macfarlane recorded a 50% increase in pre-tax profits last year and quick reactions are perhaps a clue to that success. We reduced costs in line with the new demand, by looking closly at overheads and outsourcing some of our things, and accelerated our efforts in making new business to win new customers, says Atkinson

Read the full article at packagingnews.co.uk