Case Studies

Coppice Alupack has pest control all wrapped up

A Rentokil Case Study with Coppice Alupack

Since its beginning in 1981, food packaging company Coppice Alupack has grown to become one of the chief food packaging suppliers in the UK. Coppice Alupack works for many premium brand food retailers and wholesalers, as well as smaller food outlets and now has an estimated turnover of 19 million pounds. Based in South Wales, the company employs roughly 170 staff and currently has approximately 150 customers.

With a site measuring 11,200m², Coppice Alupack has always been aware of the importance of maintaining the highest standard of pest control and has worked with Rentokil from the business’ inception. Rentokil’s portfolio of pest control products and services has naturally expanded and become more advanced over the past twenty years and Coppice Alupack welcomes these new developments, which help the company improve its ratings in the BRC (British Retail Consortium) and AIB accreditations – two of the most influential governing boards for the food industry. Achieving a high score in these measurement systems is crucial to Coppice Alupack’s business, as they are a major factor for food retailers and wholesalers in selecting their suppliers. Commercial Manager, Ian Helm, comments, “These standards are essential to our industry. Scoring highly in them is a tremendous draw for new business and pest control is a significant aspect of the ratings. For us, there is no question of getting by on the minimum industry requirements.”

Although Coppice Alupack was already scoring highly in the BRC and AIB accreditation, it wanted to secure further competitive advantage through achieving the highest marks in proactive pest management. The company recently adopted Rentokil’s PestNetOnline tool, an online reporting and monitoring system, offering a way for Coppice Alupack to improve its scoring and overall productivity. The implementation of the PestNetOnline service was a straightforward process carried out by Rentokil technicians. Rentokil also ran a series of training workshops for members of the Coppice Alupack Quality and Assurance team, whose jobs would involve using PestNetOnline.

PestNetOnline has allowed Coppice Alupack to rid itself of the use of log books and files, which were cumbersome to store and time consuming to use. All reporting is now inputted and kept within the PestNetOnline software, making it a great deal easier and faster for Coppice Alupack to access necessary reports and information. This is particularly helpful when governing bodies or potential customers require details about technician visits and the company’s pest prevention measures.

Results can be viewed in a number of formats, such as pie charts, which provide a transparent overview of the company’s pest control and allow the assessment of potential risks. Tony Mawhinney, Logistics and Quality Manager for Coppice Alupack remarks, “Accessing detailed information on our pest control practices used to involve trawling through reams of paper. PestNetOnline has put an end to this, making us more efficient through saving time and allowing us to focus on other aspects of our work.”

The remote access to real-time information that PestNetOnline offers has meant that staff in the Quality and Assurance department of Coppice Alupack can identify and tackle any issues with pest control instantly, even if they are away from the office. Mawhinney adds, “We have found the 24/7 nature of PestNetOnline extremely useful. Whilst previously we needed to look up information in log books stored on site, we are now able to bring this information up from any location and be kept up to date with developments constantly, offering greater peace of mind.”

The system is used in conjunction with Rentokil’s Radar Units, the first mouse traps to use infrared technology to detect rodent activity and CO2 to dispose of them. Coppice Alupack believes this decision will further improve its AIB rating, as it eradicates the need for placing bait in the factory.

Directly related to the hygiene and productivity benefits are the commercial advantages. When Helm and his colleagues are showing potential and existing customers around their site, he is confident that it will live up to expectations. “We’ve had comments from customers that this is one of the cleanest sites they have visited, which is fantastic considering the high standards of hygiene the industry demands,” he says.

Although Coppice Alupack is now extremely satisfied with its pest control strategy, the company is open to learning about new improvements in this area and continues to work closely with Rentokil, with technicians visiting every month. Helm comments, “We are always looking for new ways to be proactive in our pest prevention and recognise the competitive advantage of this approach. We look to Rentokil to advise us on new innovations in pest control which could benefit our business.”

Rentokil UK’s eServices Manager Chris Evans concludes, “It is great to see companies like Coppice Alupack embracing new technology such as PestNetOnline to help them improve their pest control. At Rentokil we invest heavily in developing innovative technology with the aim of making our customers more efficient and giving them greater peace of mind.”