Australia has welcomed a newcomer to the local packaging scene, with former New Zealand-based plastics testing laboratory GunnLab setting up shop in Victoria.
The company, led by husband and wife team Bruce and Mawera Gunn, has made the move across the Tasman to be closer to some of its largest customers, and to re-establish itself after Christchurch's 2011 earthquake left its previous head office in a precarious position.
Managing director Bruce Gunn explained the company had built a substantial presence providing plastics testing services for Australian and New Zealand packaging companies since its foundation in 1995.
“I had been working in the plastic packaging industry in Auckland for over ten years, [where I was] in charge of labs at a technical centre and a manufacturing site, serving what was at the time the largest flexible packaging group in New Zealand,” he told PKN.
“Seeing the need for an independent consulting lab for the whole industry, I opened GunnLab in Christchurch in 1995. Over the years our list of services grew to where it is at present.“
Even before the seismic events of 2011 in New Zealand, the company had gradually built a substantial customer base in Australia, to the point where it's trans-Tasman business had overtaken its domestic sales.
“In 2011 the Christchurch earthquakes hit. We suffered relatively light direct damage and were able to carry on operations, but in 2012 a local geotechnical assessment brought bad news,” Gunn said.
“The hillside above us was unstable. Rocks could fall and cliffs could collapse in the ongoing aftershocks. We were issued with an immediate and permanent evacuation order.
“Insurance companies were unwilling to provide relocated business cover anywhere in Christchurch, so the decision to move to Australia, closer to our largest customers, was an obvious one.
“Although our hands were forced with regard to timing, we were determined to turn challenges into opportunities.”
Now based in a new testing laboratory in Castlemaine, rural Victoria, Gunnlab offers services to Australian packaging converters of all sizes. GunnLab’s services fall into three main categories:
- Gas permeability of packaging, including oxygen transmission and water vapour transmission, two of the most important determinants of the shelf life of packaged foods;
- Chemical analysis to determine the types of plastic materials a sample is made from, including multi-layered structures; and
- A range of mechanical tests for plastic films and physical tests for plastics.
Gunn said that while many of the company's customers were small-to-medium size packaging suppliers that couldn’t justify a sophisticated lab of their own, it had also forged links with some of Australia and New Zealand's largest packaging companies.
“We do a surprising amount of work for large companies that need help when their own labs are overloaded, or when customers prefer an independent test,” he explained.
“Our customers include some of the world’s biggest names in food manufacturing. They buy huge amounts of packaging but may not want to run a packaging lab.
“They use us for quality assurance checks on incoming packaging to compare the performance of offerings from various packaging suppliers, for development projects, and to investigate package failures.”
