A new productive chapter in its half-century history is being opened by the paper packaging industry ManosPack, implementing an investment of 5.5 million euros to create a new unit near its existing facilities in the Thessaloniki Forest. With the new unit, with a covered area of 5,500 sq m, the company is making a productive leap, investing in a new production method, HD FLEXO, and changing the way it approaches its future.
HD FLEXO ensures a lower weight of paper per sq m of packaging and achieves cost reduction, both directly, as less raw material is required, and indirectly, since ManosPack’s customer industries that pay recycling taxes based on the kilos of packaging, manage to reduce this burden. As part of the new unit, ManosPack also invested in barrier varnishes, which allow the paper to be suitable for contact with the packaged food, but also durable enough to withstand grease or moisture. At the same time, the company now has the ability to produce corrugated paper, micro-microwave (NFLUTE), lightweight, which will facilitate the company’s exports of this previously bulky product. Also, with the new investment – which was financed by the development and equity funds – the way is also opened for packaging for the transport of products from e-shops.
The new unit was put into operation a few months ago -only the transfer of the offices and R&D remains- with the expectation of leading the company to increase its production capacity by 40%, while it has already increased the number of ManosPack employees by 20%, mainly the administrative and executive staff. It also requires investment in training its people on the new technology, as well as a series of interventions at the software level
Indeed, the company’s next plans, which are expected to unfold in the two years 2026-2027, are to adopt the new production method in its oldest unit, with an area of 6,000 sq m, where offset technology is utilized.
“The new production method is the only one in the industry that is evolving and has growth prospects. Our space is dynamic, you cannot stay stagnant. “You have to try to pioneer, to lead,” says ManosPack CEO Thanasis Manos to Voria.gr, noting that with this move the company is entering a market dominated by multinationals, daring to envision a different dynamic.
ManosPack’s paper packaging has found a place on the shelves of international retail giants, such as Sainsbury’s, Costco, Walmart, Aldi and Lidl, of which it is an approved supplier, developing an interactive relationship with the Greek food and beverage industries. At the same time, it also has direct partnerships with large foreign food and beverage companies in countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Israel and the Balkans, with its exports constituting 28-30% of its turnover.
Half a century of history
Since 1976, when Kyriakos Manos, with experience in the paper packaging industry, decided to create his own business on a small ground floor in Kato Toumpa with the purpose of printing books and commercial literature, to the current productive “state” of 11,500 sq.m. in Drymos, Thessaloniki, a lot of water flowed down the drain. After that first step, an industrial facility came in 1980 in Efkarpia, while in 2004 the first 1,500 sq m. were created in Drymos, where a series of development investments were subsequently implemented. Kyriakos Manos’ differentiation from the very beginning was that he focused on industrial packaging, while the industry at that time was mainly focused on packaging for the catering industry.
His two children, Thanasis Manos, who studied and holds a master’s degree in international business management, and Chrysa Manou, who studied marketing, graphic design and design, knew that the business would become their life, spending summers and holidays at ManosPack. In fact, for Thanasis Manos, working with the company was part of his dreams, while having the opportunity to see the family business’s packaging around the world brought him great joy. The two brothers, with their arrival at ManosPack, opened a window to Europe and created the conditions for cooperation with abroad, while they also launched frozen pie baking containers in collaboration with Alfa. The continuous vertical integrations were a great challenge, so that the company had control over its production and the flexibility to respond. In fact, the goal is to permanently maintain 2,000 to 2,500 tons of raw material in its warehouses, achieving security in the field of prices and availability. “We expanded as much as possible with the previous form and started from one point and then envisioned and planned the new investment,” notes Thanasis Manos. In this new course, the founder Kyriakos Manos remains active, contributing, as his son emphasizes, with his versatile experience.
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👉 Manospack: Investment of 5.5 million euros for a new production unit in Drymos, Thessaloniki – Voria.gr
