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| P2P Magaz i ne | Autumn 2013
01732 759725
OFFICE ICON
Looks can be deceptive
In an ever changing world, few
products remain the same year in, year
out: Coke, Heinz Tomato Ketchup and
Marmite spring to mind – oh, and the
Versapak tamper-evident mail pouch.
Re-usable Versapak bags and pouches
have changed very little since they were
launched in 1973. Today’s versions will
be instantly recognisable to the family-
owned company’s first customers and to
pretty much anyone else who has worked
in an office in the last 40 years.
Originally designed for postal operators
and courier companies, the zipped bags
quickly became an office staple used for
transporting documents and valuable
items (including money) internally and
through document exchange networks like
those used by solicitors, accountants and
other professionals.
Button seals securing the zip pull
to the bag break if the zip is opened,
showing instantly whether contents have
been tampered with. For extra security,
seals can be numbered or barcoded. As
well as providing peace of mind, tamper-
evident bags help deter snooping and
opportunistic theft.
Unique selling points
Leon Edwards, Group Managing Director
of Versapak, told
Pen To Paper
that the
company’s PVC bags have a number of
qualities that have helped them maintain
a market leading position in the UK:
n
they come with a 5-year guarantee;
n
they are robust, durable and re-usable
– perhaps too durable, jokes Edwards.
“We have just taken one in to repair
that we sold 20 years ago in 1993.
That’s a little too long-lasting than is
good for us”;
n
they are the only tamper-evident bags
still made in Europe. Main production
was moved to Romania in 1992 and
Versapak still carries out bag repairs
and some small manufacturing in the
UK. As a result, it can offer very short
lead times even for non-standard
products;
n
they can be supplied with bespoke
designs quickly, cost-effectively and in
volumes as low as 10; and
n
the Versapak brand is well known
around the world.
“The business has been around for 40
years and that’s a real blessing,” Edwards
says. “Versapak is one of those brands
you might not recognise but still feel
you know. A lot of people have seen our
products and that helps us to sell here
and in other countries.”
Exports to the Middle East, North
Africa, Australia, New Zealand and
Singapore are managed from the UK
office and account for about one third
of the UK company’s turnover. Versapak
has a separate office in Germany
selling to major banks and retailers on
the continent. The German operation
currently generates 25% of total
Versapak sales.
Evolving product line-up
Bags for mail and document transport
still make up about 70% of Versapak
sales, but in recent years the company’s
offering has evolved to accommodate
changing customer needs and embrace
new possibilities presented by advances
in technology.
This has helped the company to
achieve double digit sales increases for
the last three years, at a time when its
traditional market is shrinking.
“We have evolved to accommodate
the decline in print and
postal volumes over the
last 3 to 4 years: there
is now a lot more focus
on internal transport
– big fleets, logistics,
security companies,
banks and businesses
with multiple sites – and
on the transportation of
high value or important
goods, with a particular
With 10 million sold in the last 40 years,
Versapak tamper evident bags are an office staple
focus on medical applications for
transporting sensitive patient case notes
or even blood samples,” says Edwards.
In addition to insulated vaccine carriers,
blood transport bags and medical records
bags, the Versapak Group has a completely
separate company, Versapak Doping
Control, which supplies secure drug testing
kits for sports bodies and leading sporting
events such as the Tour de France.
“We were asked to produce a drug
testing kit for the RugbyWorld Cup
in New Zealand and Australia in 1987
and then again for the next World Cup
in 1991. Our first kit was basically just
a square Versapak with padding and a
secure seal on it, but drugs testing kits
have evolved so that they no longer look
like typical Versapak products at all,”
explains Edwards.
Track & trace
Carriers developed for medical
applications are now being used by other
industries, notably for the transport of
high value, electronic items.
“We are doing more electronic device
security for the likes of EE,” Edwards
explains. “They have a lot of smartphones
and iPads going from their shops to repair
centres.We’ve created solutions that are
sealed and traceable with barcodes and
padded and secure so that a company
can use them with their normal courier
rather than having to pay extra for a
specialist security company.”
This application reflects another trend
that is influencing Versapak’s product
development: the demand for more
monitoring and information.
“The desire for track and trace
capabilities has grown over the last few
years.We already put barcode labels on
bags so files can be tracked and in the
next quarter we will be launching RFID
tracking so we can track sensitive goods
going in and out of a storeroom and
around an organisation’s estate. Readers
at various points let you track items as
they move around a business without
having to open the bag.”
Increasingly, Versapak is being asked
to supply not just products but whole
solutions including bags, readers and
software. This, says Edwards, “takes
Leon Edwards,
Group
Managing
Director,
Versapak