Ball & Doggett’s move to strengthen its leadership team has resulted in the appointment of Leigh Hooper to the role of GM – Labels & Packaging. Colleen Bate talks to him about this, and more.
Leigh Hooper started his career at Focus Paper in 2009 and was since promoted to roles in sales, and digital media within the BJ Ball Group, and more recently, Ball & Doggett, which is owned by the JPP Group (Japan Pulp & Paper). He says his appointment as general manager – Display & Visual saw him glean exceptional growth over a six-year period, and created a solid platform for future success. In October, he was promoted to group general manager – Labels & Packaging.
Hooper describes his new role as “a terrific challenge in such an exciting, fast-growing market.”
He confirms that environmentally sustainable packaging solutions continues to emerge as a key requirement for corporate brands and consumers across Australia – one of the reasons that Ball & Doggett has committed to the development of such solutions.
“It’s all about reducing our environmental impact and focusing on the reusability and recyclability of packaging applications,” Hooper explains, pointing out that the company’s experienced team of national product managers have been working closely with its global supply network over the past 12 months to develop and introduce materials which meet these measures.
Hooper said that the recent appointment of Zaidee Jackson to national business development manager – Sustainable Packaging will assist with the navigation and dialogue between brand owners and converters, supporting the transition pathways towards sustainable packaging.
Jackson’s role is the fourth new appointment announced by Ball & Doggett since October, with Rob Brussolo promoted to the role of general manager – Display & Visual (D&V) and Paul Bartolo promoted to the role of national manager – Digital Media (Small Format) at the same time as Hooper.
These are commendable achievements, considering that the new roles were earned as the pandemic played out. Other positives also emerged during this time, such as the significant increase in the demand for packaging as consumers started purchasing more packaged goods.
“Manufacturers worldwide have been impacted by the pandemic. Several suppliers have been forced to shut down or reduce their production sites, so there is less product being produced, which cannot support such high demands. Further, access to raw material, extensive freight delays and increasing prices are also challenging a volatile supply chain.
“This has all played well for the local market. We have seen brands looking for domestic solutions which is hopefully a trend that can continue,” he says.
Hooper confirms that an important opportunity in the labels and packaging sector opened up in 2021 when Ball & Doggett reinstated its supply and distribution agreement with Whakatane Mill in New Zealand, and returned to full production of the Formakote carton board grades.
“This enables Ball & Doggett to service the Australian, New Zealand and South Pacific regions with a wide range of products from a ‘local’ manufacturing source, which will provide attractive delivery lead times and unrivalled support,” he says , explaining that the partnership extends back several decades and will provide consistency given the many importing challenges faced.
“Ball & Doggett is fortunate to have an extensive global supply network, a team of experienced team of specialists and a state of the art converting facility which can support the label and packaging market here in Australia.”
Looking forward, Hooper says that Ball & Doggett will be launching a range of laminates marketed under the ‘Flexile’ brand this year, which he explains is designed to meet the base material needs of the digital and narrow web print market sectors.
This move, he says will see Ball & Doggett offer flexible packaging to the broader packaging market during 2022 with a vision to be a collaborator within the sustainability and circular economy agendas.
This article was first published in the January-February 2022 print issue of PKN Packaging News, p36.
