EDITOUR PETplanet Insider Vol. 23 No. 10/22 www.petpla.net 22 Innovating for sustainability by Ruari McCallion Robinson PLC has a long history of innovation. In recent years it has gone from a privately-owned to stock exchange listed company, recruited a new CEO, has expanded its operations and locations and is investing in equipment and systems. Dr Helene Roberts, CEO, explained the strategy, tactics and market demands that are driving them. Interview with Robinson PLC June 29, 2022 We met: Dr Helene Roberts, CEO Mrs Alexandra Greenwood, Group Marketing Assistant Robinson PLC started as a familyowned business in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in 1839 – nearly 200 years ago. John Robinson was a chemist who had a pharmacy business, selling medicines. He founded the company that still bears his name because he wanted to sell pills and medicines in convenient packages, rather than loose, which was the practice at the time. “I have seen the original box that John Robinson made. It’s a really beautiful little box; it was actually made to hold pills for a gentleman’s dog – a veterinary remedy for the dog’s ‘constitution’; stomach problems,” said Dr Helene Roberts, CEO of Robinson plc. “It was, literally, the very first pillbox. John and subsequent generations were very innovative; either coming up with ideas themselves or adapting good ideas they saw elsewhere.” Helene reeled off a list of innovations that Robinson’s invented, including the world’s first crepe bandage, supplied at the behest of Florence Nightingale for wounded soldiers in the Crimean War and the world’s first disposable nappies – CosiFit, introduced years before Pampers and others appeared on the scene. Its first high-profile foray into plastic packaging was in the 1950s: a hard plastic bowed disc for the top of a Smarties tube – a very popular sweet then and now. Robinson was already making the spiral form tube so it was logical to take the next step. Geographical and product expansion But that was then and this is now. Robinson divested from healthcare products even before it went from a privately-owned firm to becoming listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market, 15 years ago. It still makes packages from board but its growth – and its future – is dominated by plastics. Dr Roberts was recruited to the company at the end of 2019; just in time for the Covid pandemic and economic disruption. “Obviously, the timing wasn’t ideal!” Dr Roberts said, with a rueful smile. “We are an expanding company and we just started the process of acquisition of a business in Denmark when the pandemic struck and travel stopped.” The acquisition, of Schela Plast, completed in February 2021. The factory is located in Billund, Jutland, which is also the home of Lego. It has a payroll of around 45 people and comprehensive production capability from cap to bottle. “We have a number of customers, including Unilever, located in Germany and elsewhere in Northern Europe and we are committed to offer them effective support wherever they are,” she explained. “Closures can travel quite long distances but bottles tend to be more local; it makes sense to transport fresh air only so far.” Increasing recycling in Denmark Schela Plast is the third Robinson’s factory in Europe, following the establishment of another two in Poland. The Denmark operation was established in 1971, offers extrusion blow moulded (EBM) packaging and produced more than 50 million items during 2021, its golden anniversary year. Robinson Schela Plast has formed an alliance with three other companies, Nopa Nordic A/S, Aage Vestergaard Larsen A/S and Dansk Affald A/S, to meet Nopa Nordic’s demand for packaging made from locally-sourced recycled materials. That need dovetailed very well with Robinson’s declared priority of increasing recycled content in its own products and making the company a circular, sustainable manufacturer. That objective was one of the reasons Dr Roberts was recruited; she had been driving the sustainability agenda since working on the development of the first responsible packaging plan at British retailer Marks & Spencer, in 2004. UK plants: consolidation In the UK, the company currently has three factories: one in Chesterfield, near to its original site, and two Tour Sponsors: Robinson’s Stanton Hill site (picture by Signs Express) Dr Helene Roberts, CEO of Robinson PLC
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