BPIF Praises Benson Group as World's First Company To Gain Independent Certification for the BPIF ISO12647-2 Certification Scheme

BARDON, England, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The BPIF has offered its congratulations to Benson Group on becoming the world's first food packaging company to gain certification under the BPIF ISO12647-2 Scheme.

The BPIF is leading the development of a UK Certification scheme for ISO12647-2, knowing that as in earlier Quality and Environmental Standards, buyers will expect auditing and certification from UKAS accredited certification bodies. In response to such customer demands, a growing number of UK printing companies are working to this standard, but at present they cannot gain a certificate from a certification body accredited by UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) to evidence this. For this reason the BPIF engaged UKAS in discussions last year and at the same time set up a Working Group to develop scheme requirements. This was welcomed by UKAS and the Scheme requirements document was published in February (available from the BPIF [email protected]). 

Working to meet the exacting standards of the BPIF Scheme and anticipating the requirements of UKAS, Benson Group has been certified by Print and Media Certification Ltd (PMC), the first certification body to audit against the BPIF Scheme using an approach set by international certification body standards.

Andrew Brown, Corporate Affairs Director at the BPIF added: "We wish to congratulate Benson Group as the first company to meet the requirements of the BPIF ISO12647-2 Scheme in what will be a fast growing community of printers that know that this is the only clear and effective way to demonstrate not only that they can print to ISO12647-2 but crucially, that they have the systems in place to sustain that standard, and that it has been rigorously assessed by an accredited and independent third party."

PMC Director Jon Stack said: "We are delighted to issue the first certificate for the BPIF ISO12647-2 scheme and to congratulate Benson Group on their achievement, and welcome the support we have received from BPIF for our audit scheme. We have developed an audit system for this scheme which is designed to meet the international standards for certification bodies, and this is the first time this has been attempted for ISO12647-2, as far as we know, in the world. The difference to other certifications for ISO12647-2 is that our approach is one of a third party, completely independent and impartial, with no conflicts of interest, and the accreditation we will be seeking from UKAS will demonstrate that this is the case."

Commenting on his company's award, Benson Group Managing Director, Mark Kerridge said: "We are of course delighted to be the first print-based business in the world to be awarded an independently assessed ISO12647-2 certification. Whilst the journey has taken us over two years, our team has learned a great deal about the whole process along the way. We have enjoyed working with the people from BPIF, and whilst it has been a long and challenging process, it has been one that has further raised the standards across our press room. It has provided a positive impact in many different areas of production, including job make-ready times, reduced wastage, consistency of colour, reduced press pass time, and an increased confidence when talking to customers about colour quality issues."

Adding further thoughts from Benson Group, Mike Owens, General Manager, said: "We have been pleasantly surprised by the impact that it has had on certain areas of production: for example, we have seen a significant reduction in waste, which has an obvious environment benefit, as well as helping us to keep an ever tighter control over production costs. It has also had a positive impact on the time taken for a customer to approve a job whilst on press."

About Benson Group

Benson Group is one of the UK's leading privately owned printed carton suppliers, producing packaging product for both the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Benson Group creates packaging for many well-known companies, brands and retailers. Key account clients across the Group include GlaxoSmithKline, Northern Foods, Reckitt Benkiser, Greencore, Bakkavor, Samworth Brothers, and leading supermarket chains.

For further information on the Benson Group visit: http://www.bensongroup.co.uk/bensongroup/group-news-printing-industries-benson-group.php

SOURCE Benson Group