A man finding himself in demand in his second career

After acting as lead spokesman for a group of packaging companies in a campaign against the enforcement of plain packs for cigarettes and other tobacco products, Mike has launched The Consumer Packaging Manufacturers Alliance from his Ilkley home.

The former senior executive of both Weidenhammer Packaging and Chesapeake (which subsumed the former Field Packaging business) in Bradford is now providing an advisory and lobbying service to the packaging industry and alerts producers to potential new regulations.

“Following my work with the group of packaging companies on the tobacco packaging issue, I have been asked by numerous industry executives to create such an advisory body. CPMA has been developed to assist both packaging users and manufacturers with the ever-changing and challenging world of packaging regulation.

“The current trend for regulation across consumer markets is set to increase in the foreseeable future, with alcohol, snack foods and certain other foodstuffs being obvious targets. CPMA will represent these interests where regulations appear to be ill-conceived and unreasonable,” said Mike.

He believes packaging companies have lagged behind other sectors when it comes to lobbying and do not have the expertise or resources to mount major campaigns.

His eyes have been opened during his work on the fight against tobacco plain packaging on which the Government is set to make a decision soon.

The call for tighter rules on cigarette packs came from the health lobby and Mike stresses that he is not representing tobacco companies.

Mike said: “The problem is that this issue has got tobacco attached to it. You can’t get away from the fact that tobacco and health don’t go together.

“The packaging industry is not against regulation. We recognise that smoking is a problem but it is legal and products can be sold to adults. But any regulations should be effective and based on evidence that they will work.

“The message I have been trying to get across to politicians and regulators is the serious impact on the packaging industry and those who work in it if less complex cigarette packs were introduced.

“Our campaign is designed to try and ensure that politicians in the UK and the EU don’t introduce regulations on the basis of political ideology but rather take informed and evidence-based decisions.

“For instance, from next year even small shopkeepers must install shutters to cover up tobacco displays. It was bought in for supermarkets 18 months ago – but has anyone evaluated its impact on smoking and health?”

He is puzzled that the Government seems not to have taken into account the financial implications of plain packaging – and the prospect that it would lead to increased illicit trading in counterfeit cigarettes.

“Should they go down the route of reducing the complexity of packaging and reducing the specifications, it would not only seriously affect packaging companies but would also have unintended consequences through increasing illicit trade of counterfeit cigarettes and hit the tax take.

“The tax revenue on tobacco products in the UK alone in excise duty and VAT is £13 billion a year and current illicit trade is worth £3 billion a year, or £8 million a day. I believe that when the final decision is being taken then such matters will be become more prominent.”

In addition to Westminster and Whitehall, Mike has travelled regularly to Brussels and Strasbourg after the European Commission developed the Tobacco Products Directive, which ultimately left the final decision on plain packaging to member states but also imposed some restrictions, including that cigarettes will no longer be sold in packs of ten and hand-rolling tobacco must be sold in 30g packs, rather than the 15g pouches more usual in the UK.

Dealing with the EU was a sharp learning curve for Mike – who said working on issues around the Tobacco Products Directive were complex and had opened his eyes to how the EU worked. He also believes that many politicians are uninformed about the issues – with the exception of Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe, a former employee of Field Packaging at Lidget Green, later Chesapeake, who has two packaging firms in his constituency.

“Gerry has been very supportive and really does understand the issues surrounding plain packaging and the potential negative impact on jobs and the economy,” said Mike.

One victory achieved by the campaign was getting the EU to reverse its decision that rolling tobacco could only be supplied in pouches.

“That would have hit Weidenhammer very hard as 50 per cent of its business in Bradford is tobacco-related and it is a leading producer of spiral bound composite cans. Fortunately, we managed to get the EU backed off that decision and tobacco can still be packed in cans,” Mike recalled.

After a lifetime experience in packaging, Mike has relished the plain packaging campaign which has kept him involved in the sector – although he has no plans to work full-time in his new venture.

He plans to maintain a work-life balance enabling him to pursue interests such as following horse racing (he has had a share in a couple of horses through a racing syndicate) as well as watching cricket involving both Yorkshire and his home county of Middlesex. He is also a member of the MCC.

Mike came to Bradford while working for Field Packaging, which he joined in 1969, working at the Thatcham factory before joining the sales team. He moved north in the 1980s to set up a new Field tube-making factory supplying the Scotch whisky industry, followed by a second one near Glasgow in the 1990s.

He said: “These were both very successful operations with all the printing work coming to Field in Bradford. After Chesapeake acquired the Field business it decided to expand the Scottish tubes operation which put a big question mark over the Bradford end of things, which was threatened with closure.

Mike persuaded Chesapeake to let him look at alternatives and he contacted Ralf Weidenhammer and his father, whom he knew were interested in having an operation in the UK, which is the second-largest market for composite cans after Germany. This resulted in Weidenhammer buying the Chesapeake tubes operation and putting Mike in charge.

He was then involved in helping Weidenhammer develop a new £10 million factory at Buttershaw, which opened in 2011 and employs around 60 people.

“They asked me to work on the project and deal with authorities such as Bradford Council who were very helpful and supportive in finding a suitable site. It was an expensive and high-risk venture developing on a greenfield site, but Weidenhammer was keen to enter the UK market from which is supplies major clients.

“I look on that as the best possible exit from my business career – securing the future of Weidenhammer in Bradford and protecting jobs. It ensured that what could have been a disaster turned into a success and that gives me great satisfaction,” said Mike.

As a consultant, Mike is now turning his attention to a wider arena as the House of Commons health select committee has alcohol labelling and packaging on its agenda .

“As we get closer to the General Election some of the controversial issues could be sidelined – but they won’t go away. That’s where my new service will come in useful to packaging companies which are only just focusing on the impact of regulation on their businesses. The industry has historically been a second or third division player in the lobbying arena.

“I recently read an article about someone eating too many Liquorice Allsorts and the effects of that. Does this mean we have to have liquorice sold in plain packs with a health warning? And sweets in bright packets not allowed at supermarket checkouts?

“That’s the way these things can go rapidly out of control and where common sense goes out of the window. The packaging industry needs to be informed, aware and advised about the potential risks to its future,” said Mike.