Exhibition Masterclass

On a surprisingly hot summers day in July, 500 eager business attendees gathered at the NEC for this year’s FacetimeUK Exhibition Masterclass. Now in its third year the packed day served up fun, informative and inspirational presentations and speakers, not forgetting some fantastic catering. With sessions including Rob Brown Networking Coach, Rachel Elnaugh ex Dragon and Red Letter Days Founder, and all things tech savvy it was a real opportunity to learn and engage with success stories and suppliers on how to take your exhibiting to the next step. The opportunity to reflect on your previous achievements and how you can implement even small changes to move forwards is priceless and something that should be applied to all aspects of business.

Now how would your business look if you applied this to your day to day operations and took a moment to literally think outside of the cardboard box?  Everyone is so busy and powering on full steam ahead to get the task in hand complete and finish the job in front of them, but if you took a moment to stop, reflect and review your packaging, what would you learn? How could you streamline your supply chain packaging to reduce costs, minimise waste and increase efficiency?

Working with PPS can help you implement all the opportunities you might be missing out on and even get you ahead of your competitors in this market. With our knowledge we can review your current supply chain practise and analyse how to move it forward with ReturnableTransit Packaging. PPS have been managing supply chain packaging for nearly 15 years and will tailor a solution to your business. Whether that be pallet pooling, complete supply chain management, roll cage rental or washing of your own crates, PPS have a solution to fit with your business.

To take the opportunity and speak to the PPS team call 01283 821 502. 

How PPS became animated

PPS provide a vital service to the food industry through returnable packaging. As the largest event in the UK for processing and packaging in this sector was fast approaching we thought it only to appropriate that we started to think outside of the box in order to give everyone a full understanding of The Complete Package and the services we offer.

Visuals are key in drawing attention to a subject, and a video enables you to create an impact beyond an individual element. We wanted something that told story in a way a single image never could and demonstrate the products and services we have available.

We worked closely with Make It Media, a local video production company who specialise in corporate videos for marketing and internal communications. From the word go they understood exactly what we were wanting to create, and their expert advice and organisation soon pulled together all elements of the animation from images to voice over to sub titles. The PPS animation was born!

We now have complete flexibility to show the video at exhibitions and in house. One of the main advantages is the immediate distribution through social media to our target market via twitter, Facebook and Google+. It demonstrates to our audience the PPS service in one short piece.

Meet the team- Lisa Stephenson

Lisa Stephenson - PPS

Name?
Lisa Stephenson.

When did you join PPS?
1st July 2013.

What is your role at PPS?
Accounts Administrator.

What was your first ever job?
Dish Washer at a local hotel.

How do you take your tea?
With milk.

What is your favourite food?
Croissants.

What are your hobbies?
Reading and going to the cinema.

A New Face at PPS East

Following Peter Davey’s retirement from PPS East, we are pleased to announce that Lisa Stephenson has joined the company in July as Accounts Administrator.

“I am delighted to be a new addition to the team at PPS” said Lisa, who went on to say “I have previously worked in the fish industry for several years so I am quite used to the lovely smell of fish!” Lisa will look after the administration of the business supporting Kate Williamson (Business Development) and Paul Durrant (Operations). Outside of work, Lisa’s husband and two children keep her busy most of the time however she likes reading and going to the local theatre and cinema.

Jeremy Tutt (Financial Controller) said ”I am really pleased Lisa has joined PPS. Following Peter’s retirement, it was important to recruit someone who would fit in with the team and continue to support PPS East Limited as we continue to grow and develop.”

PPS East Limited (formerly TFA Box Company) was established in Grimsby over 25 years ago to service the local fishing industry. BRC accreditation in Storage and Distribution means the company also attracts major blue chip clients.

They operate out of their wash facility in Omega Business Park. This allows local fish and food production businesses to hire plastic returnable containers and pallets and also have them hygienically washed. Due to increased interest from fish merchants, suppliers and processors looking to purchase various reusable containers, PPS East Limited has recently started selling directly to customers plastic boxes and trays, pans, defrosting crates and pallets.

Plastic Fish Boxes for Sale

Used Plastic Returnable Fish Boxes For Quick Sale!

PPS East have surplus stock of second-hand 25kg & 50kg plastic fish boxes which are now up for sale at very low prices.

25kg Boxes & Lids

Cool Blue 25kg Boxes & Lids

These 25kg light blue reusable boxes are a great protective packaging, and have smooth internal edges to prevent product damage. The boxes are made from food-grade polypropylene plastic so would be suitable for any business supplying edible material. They nest when empty and stack when the lids are used, which is a great space saving benefit. All boxes have 4 drain holes in the base, for melted ice dispersion. ‘Gel-packs’ have been built into the lids, which can be frozen down to -20C and when placed onto the box base work as a coolant to keep product chilled. Example of box use could be for a supply chain loop between factories, internally in production areas, in chilled rooms to store product or even to deliver food stuff to customers.

They have been previously used for whole fish, salmon and fish fillets.
Approx. External Dimensions 800 x 400 x 300mm

Box Clever 50kg Stacker Tubs

These stack only ‘Box Clever’ returnable fish boxes were designed for a wide range of applications at sea and on shore. From catching and processing to trading fish, they meet all technical and hygienic requirements. These boxes create a clever integrated handling system, and can contain up to 50kg of product.  Also made from blue food grade polypropylene these boxes will be great for fish merchants, butchers or any food production business which needs heavy duty and hardwearing plastic boxes. These boxes do not have lids.

Approx. External Dimensions 813 x 483 x 220mm

If you are interested in purchasing boxes, please call 01472 245554 for prices and more information. High volume orders will receive discounted rates.

PPS Midlands at Measham and PPS East at Grimsby are Returnable Transit Equipment Suppliers and offer a wide range of products including fish boxes. Click here to see our wide range of fish boxes for hire or sale.

Reusable Packaging Benefits

Reusable Packaging - Why use it over Single Packaging

Plastic pallets - Returnable Transit Equipmen that can be
used over and over again

Lead­ing com­pa­nies in a wide vari­ety of indus­tries across the globe imple­ment reusable pack­ag­ing for the eco­nomic, social and envi­ron­men­tal value that re-use pro­vides across the entire sup­ply chain. Reusable pal­lets, hand-held con­tain­ers, bulk con­tain­ers, dun­nage and other trans­port pack­ag­ing items are used for the effi­cient stor­age, han­dling and dis­tri­b­u­tion of prod­ucts through­out the sup­ply chain.

Reusable pack­ag­ing prod­ucts are generally man­u­fac­tured in plas­tic, which is a durable mate­r­ial and is specif­i­cally designed for mul­ti­ple trips and extended life. These prod­ucts typ­i­cally replace single-use trans­port pack­ag­ing such as wood, polystyrene and cardboard boxes and are ideal for closed loop or well man­aged open-loop sys­tems. Due to their reusable nature, they can offer a rapid return on invest­ment and a lower cost-per-trip than single-use pack­ag­ing products.

“Com­pa­nies that have made the switch to reusable pack­ag­ing expe­ri­ence lower ship­ping and labour costs, bet­ter prod­uct pro­tec­tion, more pro­duc­tive flow of goods through dis­tri­b­u­tion chan­nels, plus bet­ter ergonom­ics and improved worker safety. These com­pa­nies have also reduced their waste man­age­ment costs and pos­i­tively impacted the envi­ron­ment by gen­er­at­ing less waste and reduc­ing the need to build expen­sive dis­posal facil­i­ties or more land­fill sites. Disposable wood pallets, polystyrene and cardboard boxes comprise a significant amount of the waste generated by businesses in Europe and there is limited landfill space left, plus it is becoming more and more expensive to get rid of waste of this nature.

PPS Total Equipment Solutions allows our customers to outsource the management and supply of their returnable transit equipment. This lets them focus on their core business, providing a more efficient supply chain as well as cost savings. Whatever your requirement we can offer a range of options that we will tailor to your individual needs.

Returnable Transit Equipment Includes:

• Plastic trays, crates & boxes
• Attached lid containers or tote boxes
• Collapsible pallet boxes
• Plastic pallets
• Rigid pallet boxes
• Fish boxes

PPS Midlands at Measham and PPS East at Grimsby are BRC approved and are equipped with modern state-of-the-art wash equipment capable of tray washing, box washing and pallet washing to hygienic standards. As well as washing our own equipment PPS offers contract wash services for washing third parties equipment on medium or long term contracts as well as on an ad-hoc basis. Please contact us through our web site or telephone 01530 515333.

PPS East Celebrates its 25th Birthday.

How the times have changed from when Great Grimsby was a major fishing port, and the filleting of the fish was done outside on the North Wall in all the elements. The packaging of the fish has also moved-on as well…

We’ve seen fish boxes evolve from when merchants packed their catch into wooden boxes, and secured the lids with nails, and then it moved onto single-use expanded polystyrene boxes for when the chilled supply chain was unpredictable, and now a shift back to returnable plastic boxes has started to happen apace.
PPS East now in its 25th year, was originally named TFA Box Company. It has grown from the early days of cleaning fish boxes outside by hand, to the present day of supplying returnable packaging to all food manufacturing businesses from a BRC accredited wash facility.

In the beginning TFA Box Company was just an idea of Icelandic fish selling agency, Fylkir. At the time it was known that fish box hire prices had doubled in price, so the directors of Fylkir put their ‘cod-heads’ together and decided to buy their own box supply to use for Icelandic fish landings on the Grimsby auction. This idea was initially only for Icelandic fish, but as time went by, more and more Non-Icelandic fish selling agents began to use their box services.

Now having their ‘fish-fingers’ in a new type of pie, the co-owners Peter Davey and Ron Woods began to realise this could be a good business partnership, and by 1998 Ron had sold his shares to Quayside Distribution a local fish haulier. They then moved the wash process onto the Grimsby fish auction, where new machinery was bought for the cleaning of the boxes. TFA was then turning over £200,000 per annum, and ‘haddock’ bright future.

In 2002, Quayside’s then co-owner, Steve Moore, sold his shares within the transport company, and part of that deal was the acquisition of the 50% shareholding of TFA Box Company. At this time there were four other fish box rental businesses in the Humber region, but TFA progressed quickly eventually gaining 98% of the available market, and reached a turnover of £1.5 million.

Having taken over most of the fish box rental work in the area, TFA out-grew their facility and moved premises to the Old Pontoon – where trawlers then landed their catch. This is where the business stayed until 2009.

Being solely a fish box business, and having already taken the majority of the work on the Humber banks, TFA needed to look at other opportunities. This is when alternative investment was offered by PPS, a company who already had a wash and rental business in the Midlands of the UK, but predominately supplied crates for meat and other food types.

The two companies had many things in common, but both brought areas of expertise, therefore a natural progression occurred in combining the two. Peter Davey and Steve Moore are still actively involved with the business today and together with PPS’s new dynamic team instigated the opening of a new wash site away from the dock area, which would continue to service the fish industry and Grimsby fish market with all types of plastic containers, but to also reach out to other food manufacturing businesses in Lincolnshire to supply and clean returnable transit equipment helping to reduce packaging waste.

The past 25 years have seen an industry change and evolve, and PPS is making sure that they are always well ‘plaiced’ to move with the times!

Reusable Plastic Fish Boxes used at Grimsby Fish Market

PPS East at the  opening of the new fish market in Grimsby

PPS provides a pool of Plastic Fish Boxes for use on Grimsby Market

PPS East was represented by Steve Moore and David Peggie at the official opening of the new Grimsby Fish Market following the £1.2m modernisation programme which has transformed the market into one of the most modern fish auctions in Europe.

The principle guest was the Icelandic Minister of Fisheries & Agriculture, Mr Steingrimur J Sigfusson.

The majority of fish sold on the Grimsby market originates from Iceland and PPS provides a pool of Plastic Fish Boxes for use on the market and for onward distribution of the fish to the processors.

Returnable Transit Packaging

PPS Appoints New Business Development Manager

Returnable transit packaging continues to catch the interest of a range of businesses interested making savings on the cost of packaging. Cardboard boxes especially are being replaced by plastic crates or plastic boxes that not only provide savings on disposal and labour costs, but also help improve carbon footprint.

PPS specialises in a range of services associated with returnable transit equipment (RTE) such as nestable crates, bale arm crates, plastic fish boxes, plastic pallets and large plastic pallet boxes and tubs. PPS has a pool of returnable packaging that they rent to their customers who then use it to dispatch their products to third parties. PPS then arranges to collect the used equipment and return it to one of their commercial wash sites for hygienic cleaning, after which it is either returned to the customer in an integrated loop system or to the equipment pool.

With wash sites at Measham in the Midlands (accredited to ISO 22000 Food Safety Management) and Grimsby (accredited to BRC Storage and Distribution Standard) PPS wash a broad cross-section of returnable packaging, including bale arm crates, plastic tote boxes, plastic fish boxes, plastic pallets and plastic pallet boxes or tubs. PPS has a wide customer profile but with a big emphasis on the food sector – beef, poultry and retail. The Grimsby site, known as PPS East had for  years concentrated on the fish and seafood industry but in addition to this core business have now established a separate wash station for plastic boxes, crates and trays in its own building and which is dedicated to non-fish food wash applications.

Now, as part of the continued expansion of the business, PPS has appointed a new Business Development Manager to replace Iain McArthur who is moving to Scotland to develop business opportunities there. Jonathan Issatt has joined PPS with responsibility for developing new business in all industry sectors. Jonathan brings a wide range of innovative skills, having worked before for a large pallet pooling business in a business development role. He will look at new projects for returnable transit packaging within the supply chain in the food, retail, and automotive, engineering and electronic sectors. Other development areas include waste management, anaerobic digestion, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and personal care.

Director of PPS David Peggie said, “We are excited to have Jonathan join our team. He has wide experience in returnable transit equipment and pallet pooling systems through the supply chain and will be looking to develop new business for both our sites that will contribute to the continued expansion of our company. His wide experience in pallet pooling systems has meant that he has hit the ground running in terms of operational activities”