DS Smith Secures £108M Contract Extension with JLR for Sustainable Packaging Solutions
DS Smith extends its five year partnership with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to deliver fully integrated fibre based packaging services focusing on sustainability, efficiency, and waste reduction in automotive packaging.
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DS Smith has announces the extension of their longstanding contractual agreement with JLR. The five-year £108 million contract with the iconic British brand underscores JLR’s intention to invest in sustainability and marks its move from transactional packaging to a fully integrated service model that is focussed on the manufacture and assembly of key JLR products for local and international customers.
DS Smith will supply the JLR Mercia campus with a one-stop-shop solution for packaging products that are inclusive of inbound product packaging, outbound shipping packaging, and warehouse storage. This end-to-end approach is centred around flexibility and agility and is based on a fixed cost agreement to cover a combination of outputs and delivery options and requirements.
The contract includes provision of an on-site warehousing and transportation service called JLR Just in Time (JIT) which was created to ensure a materially lean supply and flow of sustainable packaging materials. The service is also set up to seamlessly facilitate the delivery of packaging products to end user storage facilities. In addition, to support JLR’s Aftermarket service requirements, DS Smith has installed an on-site one-stop-shop operation model at JLR’s Mercia Park facility in Appleby Magna, Leicestershire, UK.
The extended DS Smith and JLR contract reflects JLR’s long-term strategy to minimise the use of unnecessary materials in their packaging and to use innovative sustainable design to eliminate waste. As part of the extended agreement, DS Smith will ensure that any excess waste material in the form of corrugated cardboard from the JLR packing process is sorted and prepared for recycling or reuse in secondary pack material. The two companies’ integrated approach to packaging production and solutions with a renewed focus on engineering, is intended to support the reduction of CO2 emissions, and costs.
Chay Ankers, Market Sector Business Unit (MSBU), Director, Automotive, DS Smith: “We are incredibly pleased to be able to announce the extension of our contract with JLR. We are working together to find new ways of innovating for the future and successfully transforming industry standards in packaging and design together. The new service reflects a joined-up approach as we work together to manage packaging production, integration and planning for the entire supply chain and this is in keeping with our shared sustainability goals.”
The extended contract builds on previous achievements and product innovation. For example, DS Smith and JLR launched a Bumper Outer Shipper packaging service to facilitate the packaging of individual vehicle parts worldwide in 2022. This generated a 125% increase in the volume of bumpers shipped, expanded the freight capacity in delivery vehicles, and drove time saving efficiencies during the assembly of one-piece self-locking primary packs, while making for faster and easier unpacking for dealers.
DS Smith’s ongoing partnership with JLR echoes its purpose to Redefine Packaging for a Changing World, which is fuelled by its target-led Now & Next Sustainability Strategy. The ambitious programme prioritises replacing plastics that are not readily recycled with fibre-based alternatives, taking carbon out of supply chains, and providing innovative recycling solutions, to support customers in making the transition to a circular economy.
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