We had an opportunity for a quick chat at the Paul and Company stand at Interpack – where we met up with Kilian Kunert, executive vice-president, and one of the family-owned company’s stakeholders. We were naturally curious about the company and its interests in Asia and more recently, India. Kunert, who is extremely approachable, said that the company’s paper cores for efficient winding processes and reliable edge protector products shown at Interpack 2023 could be of great use to Indian exporters of packaging films and printed packaging laminates.
From the variety of paper-based cores on display, we could recognize or sense some of the company’s innovations, new paper core concepts, and surface refinements. Apart from the role of paper cores in the unwinding and winding process, the company respects the value of its customer’s materials – for optimization of production, shipping, and logistics. Kunert explained that the paper cores developed in close cooperation with customers contribute significantly to the efficiency of processes. “Our employees are continuously working on paper core solutions and services that effectively support the sustainable added value of our customers and, hence, there are many options.”
The family-owned company is environmentally active, ensuring its products, which meet the highest standards for strength and hygiene, are produced with the lowest carbon footprint. The Germany-headquartered company has 15 plants in Europe and Kunert said it is active in Asia with two plants.
He suggested that it is also becoming aware of the Indian industry gearing up for higher productivity and exports. Saying that the Indian market will continue to be supplied with its paper cores from its Asian plants in Thailand and Indonesia for now, he commented that exports of films and packaging materials, for instance, would benefit in performance from the use of Paul and Co’s cores that are recognized for being custom-made optimized solutions by end-customers globally.
Although our meeting with Kilian Kunert was brief, as an Indian visitor who had read about Paul and Co in the April issue of Packaging South Asia arrived, it was apparent that the Paul and Co-Kunert Group is extremely engaged with its customers and potential customers. It sees itself as a trusted adviser, and together with developing customized solutions individually adjusted to requirements, it seeks to master the production and logistics processes of its customers. At Interpack, the company also showed its App, including the new upgrade of its CO2 footprint calculator.
Wanting to establish strong closely linked, long-term relationships, the group sees its customer’s challenges as its own. “That is why we – as in the past – will also rely on a trusting collaboration, intensive advice, long-term experience, and reliable products in the future. We will continue to do more than ‘just’ deliver products.
“Instead, we will actively support customers in handling every challenge concerning their production and logistics processes. Together, we will master any challenge.” The company thinks and acts in closed cycles. “The material chain ends where it starts in the paper mill – with the waste paper.”
