Robots recycling must prepare for the future

30, streamlined and state-of-the-art. That’s how you can briefly describe ST PLAST’s situation here 30 years after director and owner Knud-Erik Skov-Thuesen founded the company, which is headquartered on Falkevej in Esbjerg Ø.

Since the first packaging was designed back in 1991, ST PLAST has helped shape the development of thermoformed plastic packaging and millions of products in Denmark, Scandinavia, and Germany such as cakes, cream buns, potatoes, and other greens are packed daily in the company’s packaging.

The recent financial statements have shown increasing profits and the staff has passed 50 employees in the company, which however has not come to success by chance. In fact, it is the result of a strategy that was laid out already 15 years ago.

“It was all the way back in the 2000s that the foundations were strategically laid in relation to the ideas we still work with today. Subsequently, the financial crisis hit and hurt our business, but today we would not have wanted to be without the crisis, as we learned a lot that we have since been able to use. So even though we had to put it somewhat on standby for a couple of years, we continued to work based on the ideas from the 2000s when we again had the opportunity to accelerate,” explains Knud-Erik Skov-Thuesen about a strategy that has really gained momentum recently.

This has meant that the company has both strengthened the organization with a factory manager and a new sales manager, as well as invested millions of kroner in a robotic solution for the central palletizing system.

Many advantages of automation and digitization

As a result of recent years’ investments in new technology, production is now fully automated and digitized, which both aims to increase efficiency and at the same time create better well-being and an optimal working environment for the employees.

“Our production is now fully digitized everywhere and we have camera surveillance of all machines. This means that we can monitor processes and troubleshoot, so we have optimized processes and can ensure high efficiency and quality. There is also an element of employee care in this, as it is a bit more fun for the employees with robots and technology, which makes it easier to recruit and retain labor,” says Knud-Erik Skov-Thuesen about the advantages of increased digitization and automation.

At the headquarters on Falkevej in Esbjerg, ST PLAST today has 13,000 m2 under roof, which contains production, warehouse, and administration. Today, 10 fully automatic thermoforming lines in production as well as two IML injection molding machines ensure a streamlined and state-of-the-art production, which is arranged with food safety, energy efficiency, and both environmental and occupational health considerations as absolutely overriding parameters.

Sustainable and responsible

The optimized production has also given ST PLAST the opportunity to reach another important milestone and goal. Earlier this year, the company was for the first time able to make it possible to buy Danish potatoes in packaging produced with 100 percent recycled PET. Together with Storøhage Potatoes at Lammefjorden, the Esbjerg company developed a tray in 100 percent PET, which is approved for direct food contact.

This is the result of ST PLAST having had a strong focus on nuanced perceptions of plastic, as the company believes that the debate about plastic is far too black and white, which they want to help change. This should especially be done by focusing on recycling raw materials.

“We started four-five years ago to become incredibly focused on recycling and reducing our carbon footprint by focusing on only using the plastic we need and trying to remove the excess. We work based on the 3R principle ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’, as we want to run the company 100 percent responsibly and sustainably. We want to do this both based on our own visions, as we want to do it for both the environment’s and the company’s sake, but also because we can see that it is beginning to become a requirement from suppliers and consumers,” says company owner Knud-Erik Skov-Thuesen explaining the increased focus on recycling and sustainability.