Amcor

Amcor Limited

Type	public
Traded as	ASX: AMC
Industry	Packaging
Founded	As "Australian Paper Manufacturers" - 1860 As Amcor - 1986
Headquarters	Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Key people	Ron Delia, CEO
Products	Packaging
Revenue	$9.5 billion sales
Number of employees	28 000
Website	http://www.amcor.com

Amcor Limited is an Australian-based multinational packaging company. Its headquarters are in Hawthorn, Victoria (a suburb of Melbourne); and it is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Amcor (ASX: AMC) creates packaging solutions using flexibles and rigid plastics packaging. Amcor products protect food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, personal, home and personal care goods. Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, the company employs 27,000 people worldwide and has operations across 43 countries.

History

Amcor Limited was formed in 1986 when Australian Paper Manufacturers was renamed. The company manufactured pulp paper and paperboard products, along with metal can and flexible packaging.

In April 2000, Amcor demerged its printing papers business to focus on its global packaging operations. The spin-off company was named Paperlinx.

Amcor's 45% interest in Kimberly-Clark Australia, a tissue and personal care products company, was divested in June 2002.

Amcor Rigid Plastics plant, Manchester, Michigan

In July 2002 Amcor acquired the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and Closures businesses of Schmalbach-Lubeca, headquartered in Ratingen, Germany. This acquisition, at a cost of around $2.875 billion, made Amcor the largest PET manufacturer globally.

Amcor announced in February 2008 the construction of a 400,000 tonnes per annum paper recycled mill located at its existing paper mill in Botany, NSW. The ‘B9’ paper machine, so named as it is the ninth paper machine to operate at the Botany Mill, was commissioned in 2012 and was officially opened by NSW Premier, the Hon Barry O’Farrell, MP on 1 February 2013. The B9 paper machine produces enough paper to fulfill the company’s Australasian paper requirements, and as a result, Amcor’s other recycled paper mill located on the banks of the Yarra River in Fairfield, VIC, ceased operation in late 2012.

In February 2009, it was confirmed by Julie McPherson (Group Company Secretary) that Amcor was negotiating the takeover of some flexible packaging assets from the Rio Tinto Group.

On 18 August 2009, Amcor announced an offer to acquire a range of Alcan packaging assets from Rio Tinto. There is an estimated purchase price of A$2 billion for the food, beverage, tobacco and pharmaceutical businesses.

In 2010 Amcor completed the acquisition of Alcan Packaging food Europe, food Asia, global pharmaceutical, and global tobacco businesses from Rio Tinto for a total consideration of $1.95bn

In 2011 Amcor Packaging Distribution acquired Marfred Industries, one of the largest independently owned packaging manufacturers and packaging distributors in the United States.

In 2012 the Amcor Australasia Beverage division acquired the business assets of Carter & Associates, a major distributor of Amcor glass wine, champagne and spirit bottles in New Zealand.

In 2012 Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific acquired the Aperio Group packaging company, adding further capability in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. This business also acquired Uniglobe Packaging, a business based in Daman, north of Mumbai, India in the same year.

In 2013 Amcor announced that it was demerging its Australia and New Zealand packaging operations and its global distribution business into a new company that will be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

In 2015 Amcor’s Chairman, Graeme Liebelt, advised that Ken MacKenzie would retire as Chief Executive Officer effective 17 April 2015 and Ron Delia would commence as CEO of Amcor Limited.

Products

The company has two major broad lines of packaging products: Rigid Plastics, Flexibles. Rigid plastics include packaging for beverages, food, pharmaceuticals, personal & homecare. Amcor claims to be "the world's largest producer of PET bottles."

Flexibles includes pharmaceuticals and hospital supplies, food, drink pouches, etc. The company also has a division which makes paper packaging for tobacco products; and it manufactures various caps and laminates.

Amcor’s Global Pharma division operates 26 plants across 16 countries in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia, creating flexible packaging solutions for the pharmaceutical, biotech and animal health industries. Its range of packaging options address requirements for unit dose, child-resistant, patient compliance, anti-counterfeiting and sustainable solutions.

Global Pharma product ranges

• Blister packaging - Amcor offers a comprehensive blister packaging system with either cold form (Formpack®) or thermoform (Polybar®) blisters and lidding with options for a print primer (Primera lid foil) and child resistant/senior friendly opening (Guardlid®).
• Sachet laminates – sachets, stick packs and strip packs, can also include child resistant/senior friendly features. Allows patient to carry the exact amount of medicine they need.
• Dessiflex® – a moisture absorbing barrier layer which can be applied to blister packs and sachets to enhance the protection of active ingredients as well as to increase the product shelf life.
• Anti-counterfeiting solution – Amcor’s N’CRYPT® Security Solution combines multiple technologies, including authentication features and specialized printing techniques to protect brands and ensure complete supply chain integrity.

Innovation Awards

Over the years, Amcor Global Pharma has been nominated for and won many awards for innovation in packaging, including:

• Winner of EAFA Alufoil Trophy 2015 – for AirFluSal® Forspiro® new blister strip, in partnership with Sandoz International
• Winner of Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards
  • Gold award: Technical Innovation – 2015 – for Dessiflex®
• Winner of World Packaging Organisation World Star Packaging Award 2014 – for Formpack® with advanced blister design
• Winner of DuPont award for Packaging Innovation
  • Excellence in Innovation – 2013 – for Formpack® with advanced blister design
  • DuPont continuing Innovation Award - 2013

Amcor's Sustainability Review

Amcor's 2014 Sustainability Review details the company’s sustainability performance for the FY2013-2014 period. This is the twelfth year the company has published information and data on its environment, social and economic performance.

Amcor’s approach to sustainability has five focus areas: environment, community, workplace, marketplace and economy. Performance is measured in each of these areas to allow for benchmarking against international standards and other corporate peers.

Performance highlights for 2014 include:

- Best ever safety results with a 20% reduction in injury rates compared to the previous year.

- Reduced waste to landfill intensity by 53%; water use intensity by 16%; and our green house gas emissions intensity by 19%.

- Nearly 600 life cycle assessments completed, bringing the total in the ASSET™ database to over 4200. These assessments are designed to support data-based decisions about responsible packaging that take into account sustainability impacts across the entire product lifecycle.

- Launched the Amcor Community Program with five million dollars over five years allocated to the Program.

Amcor is listed on global and regional market indices, including the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific Index; the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index, Materials Sector, Australia and New Zealand region; and the FTSE4Good index.

The Amcor 2014 Sustainability Review has been prepared in accordance with the GRI’s Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (2006) and AccountAbility’s AA1000 Assurance Standard (2008). Netbalance, one of the largest providers of sustainability advice, assurance, and research in Australia, has independently assessed the Report and confirmed that it meets the requirements for the B+ GRI Application Level.

Controversies

In 2001, Amcor was fined A$10,000 by EPA Victoria for pollution.

In December 2004, the CEO, Russell Jones, resigned on the request of the board after press reports revealed that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) was investigating the company for engaging in cartel practices. Such practices are a serious breach of Australia's corporate laws. News of the investigation came to light after the company sued five former executives in an attempt to prevent them providing information and documents to the relevant regulator, the ACCC.

In 2007, Amcor sold its European bottle/preform business to La Seda, a Spanish-based resin manufacturer.

In 2008, Amcor was convicted by the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court for releasing oil to the Yarra River from its Alphington plant and fined $80,000.

Further reading

• E.K. Sinclair, "The Spreading Tree, A history of APM and Amcor 1844-1989", Allen and Unwin, 1990
• Amcor Twitter page
• Amcor Facebook page
• Amcor LinkedIn page