Founded in 2001 with the vision of becoming the UK’s premier packaging supplier, Kite Packaging has since become a leading figure and pioneering force within the packaging industry. This has been made possible only by the sheer talent, efforts and determination of Kite’s staff who are driven by a collective desire to succeed whilst sharing the benefits of their hard work as an employee share-owned company.
Last year, Kite bid farewell to its home of many years to move into a new, state-of-the-art Campus facility at Puma Park, Coventry and has since experienced a time of remarkable development and growth. The move doubled the company’s Coventry capacity to 380,000 square feet which, alongside significant expansion of their product ranges, efficient use of vertical warehouse storage space with additional, higher racking and increased stock holding amongst other things, has allowed Kite to retain their impressive OTIF of 99.9%.
Time after time, the company has emphasised the importance of embracing technological evolution to drive success, most recently, becoming the first in the packaging industry to embrace the use of a fully autonomous drone for inventory control. The drone flies around Kite’s warehouse, independently completing stock checks in less than 5 hours where manually it took a week. This has freed up significant time for warehouse operatives to instead focus on order fulfilment and more quality-orientated tasks to maintain Kite’s outstanding OTIF.
The company’s ongoing investment in technology resulted in the launch of a market-leading app earlier this year, allowing customers to order and manage all of their packaging through any smart phone. Kite has revolutionised their customers’ ordering experience by providing round-the-clock access to their packaging services at the touch of a button, or simply by scanning a barcode, redefining convenience and efficiency for their customers whilst taking a lead in the packaging industry. Thus, by evolving alongside technology, Kite Packaging has been able to maintain its exceptional commitments to customer service.
Puma Park itself is complete with a full conferencing and training suite for up to 150 people, allowing Kite to continue fostering a culture of continuous learning and development within the business. In the last year, Kite has started a Degree Apprenticeship Management Programme, enrolling 10 recent A Level students on to a 4 year BSc (Honours) Packaging Professional degree while they work full-time in the business. The students will simultaneously benefit from gaining invaluable industry experience and a qualification. This is in addition to the company’s longstanding graduate programme which will welcome 6 STEM graduates from Russell Group universities as well twelve highly talented, new recruits into their field and telesales academies. Through this careful cultivation of talent, Kite is able to introduce fresh perspectives, intellect and skills into the packaging industry, whilst empowering themselves to produce phenomenal results year after year.
Kite’s world-class office at Puma Park with facilities for 200 echoes sustainability at every level and is fitted with smart lighting, insulation, and solar panels for energy efficiency. Meanwhile, an onsite water recycling plant promotes self-sufficiency which, in combination with the latter, makes Kite’s Campus the most environmentally-sustainable site in the industry. Thanks to this, the eco-conscious company has been able to move forward on its path towards carbon neutrality, offsetting CO2e emissions under Scopes 1, 2 and now also including distribution under Scope 3.
They have similarly invested over £7,000,000 in a new site for their Sittingbourne Regional Distribution Centre (RDC), Kite’s biggest and fastest growing RDC to date, with the aim of enabling further growth and higher service levels to its customers. The new site boasts over 50,000 square feet and features solar panels for sourcing renewable energy, echoing the group’s ethos around sustainability. Kite has also invested in a brand new RDC in Manchester as well as significant expansion of their Midlands RDC.
The company’s commitment to the environment can also be seen through their product offering which provides affordable, eco-friendly packaging choices to their customers in every category. Kite has been busy developing their sustainable food packaging range ahead of the single-use plastic takeaway packaging ban set to come into place later this year in October. Kite Packaging have continued expansion of their ranges, particularly with corrugated products, such as their enviro-boxes, single and double wall boxes, and mailers amongst many others in their portfolio of over 2,500 products.
As a testament to Kite’s efforts, the company recently won the gold award in the Chilled and Frozen Food Packaging category at the Environmental Packaging Awards 2023 with their corrugated insulated box liner for frozen meat. The company’s eco-friendly innovation provides an alternative to traditional polystyrene packaging which performs just as well, if not better, and encourages a circular economy.
Puma Park has not only helped Kite serve its customers better, but also its employees. Complete with a 3.5 acre, on-site rewilded nature reserve, including a nature trail and outdoor workspaces covered by Kite’s Wi-Fi network, staff can be found partaking in weekly PT sessions here every Monday evening, promoting a culture of health, wellbeing, team spirit and fun within the organisation.
Kite Packaging
t: 02476 420065
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