Chevler aims to make further inroads into US cupcake market

Chevler, one of the biggest manufacturers of baking cases in the UK, has the US market firmly in its sights, as it reports a hike in output between 10 to 15 per cent over the past 12 months resulting from a facility upgrade and a new approach to conveying.

Norman Chase, company director, said that while the supplier continues to focus on the UK, its sees the US market as its main growth driver due to the cupcake and muffin consumption trends there, and it has been increasing its capacity to meet such demand.

North America also enables easier entry for sector players than continental Europe, with competitor Novacart having a firm grip on the EU bakery paper packaging sector.

The baking cases maker reported that following on from sustained investment in high speed lines at its two facilities at Hengoed in South Wales, it now can produce over one billion baking cases a year in some 600 shapes and sizes.

And Chase said that he expects output to gain again in 2011, with line automation allowing a weekend shift to enable nearly a 24/7 operation.

“If we can increase by a further 10 per cent this year we will be doing well,” said the company director, who added that the automated packing realized a labour reduction from 10 to two packers.

A new way of conveying wraps and cases that allows segregation of product at the end of separate in-feed systems results in greater flexibility with a wide variety of cases in terms of size, colour or print now able to run simultaneously, explained Chase.

He claims another key strength is that Chevler carries out all printing and converting in-house.

Industry wide raw material shortages two years ago forced the supplier to look beyond Scandinavia for its FSC certified natural greaseproof paper, and Chase explained Chevler now relies on three to four suppliers to ensure a switch from one to the other in case of delivery bottlenecks.

“The natural paper is a brand differentiator for us, and the large volumes we procure allow us to offset any price difference over the chemically treated artificial ‘greaseproof’ paper commonly used by the competition,” he continued.

Chevler was formed in February 2009 following the collapse of Chevler Packaging. Four senior executives at the company bought it out and consolidated all operations onto a single site, building an additional production facility next to the existing one.

Source: Chevler