Explore how Invopak is revolutionizing customer experience in the industrial packaging industry through diversification
Invopak is part of the Involvement group, a diverse community of brands across a range of industries. Founded in 1974, Invopak is Involvement’s longest standing brand, and the most recent to take on ambitious growth plans following its venture into UK tin manufacturing this year.
Involvement has significantly grown in recent years, driven by the creation of Invo Fulfilment, providing pallet storage and distribution services, and Invo Design, offering packaging and graphic design for Involvement’s existing and new clients. Scott Sandilands, Chief Revenue Officer, provides a detailed account of the nature of Involvement’s endeavors. 
“Specializing in rigid containers, we are roughly a £40-million British family business. We offer around 2000 products from leading suppliers across the UK and Europe. When I joined, our sales totaled £1 million, but we have since grown to become the leading rigid packaging distributor in the UK. Our extensive experience in rigid containers, combined with our long-standing relationships with manufacturers, allows us to help our suppliers succeed in the UK market. Through collaboration with us, some of our suppliers who did not have a foothold in the UK have now significantly increased their sales.
“In around 2020, we discussed what would be the next step for Invopak, and it became clear to us that we needed to prioritize customer experience, due to supply uncertainty. As part of that, in around 2021, we decided that our next step would be to venture into manufacturing. However, there was a lot of disruption around the planning of this project, namely Brexit, wars, and raw material shortages. Amidst these chaotic circumstances, our supply chain at Invopak was slightly damaged. Nonetheless, we pride ourselves on our flexibility and the ability to control what we can, and the manufacturing project allowed us to have more control over the supply chain, ensuring we could offer our customers a reliable service,” he adds.
Natural evolution
Scott lays out the benefits he expects to see from Invopak’s entry into the manufacturing sphere. “First of all, the key benefit of our manufacturing project is that we can now manufacture our products in the UK, specifically in the vibrant city of Manchester. Having a manufacturing presence in the UK allows us to have better control, particularly in terms of service. For instance, we have the flexibility to manage lead times and alter production to meet demand. This means that our planning capabilities have also improved, and we now have a stronger supply chain that enables us to plan ahead of potential hurdles. As our market is highly volatile, with constant fluctuations in raw materials and other factors, we are always looking and planning ahead to anticipate and counter those challenges,” he enlightens.
Located in Manchester, Invopak’s new manufacturing operation has certainly made an impact on the local community – for the better. “I have been pleasantly surprised by the level of interest we have received from people wanting to work with us. Generally, for them it is not just about working for a manufacturing company, but rather working specifically for Involvement due to our coaching principles, core purpose, and the values upon which every aspect of the business is based. As a result, we have had a lot of interest and have already hired several highly skilled engineers, who have helped our plant run smoothly. Moreover, our plant is tailor-made, built from scratch, and offers a brand new and exciting environment, which people find appealing,” says Scott.
Paul Littlehales, Commercial Director, comments: “The industry we operate in is fast-paced and constantly evolving, whereas the manufacturing of containers, particularly tins, is a historically static marketplace. We identified an opportunity to offer a manufacturing solution with a distributor level service. Service is a crucial aspect for us which manufacturers often overlook, as evidenced by their extremely long lead times. Often, customers place their orders, receive a template, and wait for the cans to be manufactured and shipped, resulting in a minimum six-week lead time. However, Scott’s vision is to reduce that time to two weeks, a significantly better turnaround time that makes us unique in the market. Our 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility houses our machines, and we have access to 250,000 square feet of prime warehousing space, with storage available in multiple locations. This setup allows us to offer a more efficient and responsive service to our customers.”
Unpacking the future
As Invopak enters the world of manufacturing, some core priorities are under consideration within the company, one of these aspects is the supply chain. Arjen Cooper-Rolfe, CEO and Owner of Involvement, reveals the key attributes the company looks for when forming long-term relationships with suppliers and customers. “Although we have always been loyal to our suppliers and customers, we are now focusing more on creating fair partnerships. In the past, we have worked with some suppliers who did not treat us particularly well, resulting in an unfair partnership. Likewise, there has sometimes been a subtle bias in our relationships because we have historically been a distributor, we may not receive the same recognition as a global manufacturing company, for example. As a result, we have become better at evaluating these relationships and approaching them with fairness. To get the best results we prefer working with companies who engage with us openly, and now being a manufacturer has opened a lot of doors for us to develop even stronger partnerships,” he concludes.
By prioritizing service and fair supply chain partnerships, Invopak is revolutionizing a traditional conservative industry to best support its customers through diversification.
invopak.co.uk