For most people a cardboard box is an object of trivial value, something they rush to discard once they remove its contents. Few, perhaps, have considered that a paper package is a high-value-added industrial product. This, however, is something they know well at Dunapack Packaging Hellas — one of the oldest Greek manufacturers of corrugated-board products and of the design and production of cardboard boxes, founded in 1973.
In 1980 the company moved to its own premises in Acharnes, Attica, and since 2000 its plant has been located in Schimatari, Boeotia, having begun operations 21 years ago with a staff of just 43. Since 2016 the company has been part of Dunapack Packaging, which belongs to the Austrian Prinzhorn Group — founded in 1853 and today employing 10,000 people across 16 countries, holding a leading position in the European paper, packaging and recycling industry.
Dunapack Packaging Hellas produces a range of packaging solutions covering all of its customers' needs: stands, shelf-ready packaging, special constructions and trays suited to storing and transporting fruit and vegetables — from the simplest industrial box to display boxes with high print specifications and promotional constructions.
Over the past six years, the company — with Vassilis Exarchos as Managing Director — has posted significant growth, increasing its turnover from €22.4 million in 2015 to €39.5 million in 2020.
Vassilis Exarchos, with studies in Business Administration and Digital Marketing, has already built a fifteen-year career in the packaging sector and continues. In 2015 he took the position of Managing Director of the multinational Dunapack Viokyt Packaging S.A., and in 2020 he expanded his remit, being promoted to Managing Director for Southeastern Europe at the Prinzhorn Group. At the same time he holds the position of Chairman and Managing Director at companies active in food production and trade in central European countries, and he is a board member of Hellenic Production, the body responsible for the development of Greek industrial production.
What is the recipe for the success of Dunapack Packaging Hellas? Vassilis Exarchos answers that "from its creation until today it has invested, and continues to invest, in three core pillars: excellent customer service, state-of-the-art technological equipment and — most importantly — its people. The company's philosophy is characterized by respect for all safety rules and all labour laws, respect for the customer and their needs, respect for society and respect for the environment, with care to reduce the burden our activity places on it." He also considers that the most important mark he has left through his participation in European corrugated-board associations is his contribution to the use of paper rather than plastic in packaging.
Did the pandemic affect the performance of Dunapack Packaging Hellas? The company's Managing Director explains that amid the pandemic the packaging industry — with production and exports as its main pillar — managed to post double-digit growth. "The packaging sector, guided by the principle that 'whatever is produced is packaged', despite the pressure it faced from the enormous increases in raw-material prices, delivered impressive results. In 2020 we managed, without state support, to increase our turnover by 2.4% versus 2019 and our profitability by more than 50%. We also brought forward investments exceeding €25 million that will add more than 100 new jobs."
Holding a position of particular responsibility in one of the largest European organizations, Vassilis Exarchos feels the need to promote his country, Greece, as an investment destination. The first phase of Dunapack Packaging Hellas's investment programme began in summer 2017 and was completed in the second half of 2018. It included expanding facilities by 5,150 sq m, relocating the board-production machine and procuring two new converting units as well as auxiliary machinery. The second phase of the investment plan is currently under way, as the packaging operation reached maximum capacity within two years of completing its first expansion phase. Accordingly, in April 2020 the company began its second investment cycle, which will allow it to double annual production. This new expansion is expected to create 70 new jobs, and its completion in the first half of 2022 will mark the realization, by the Prinzhorn Group, of investments in its Greek subsidiary totalling €60 million.