The Belgian Ambassador to Ireland HE Pierre-Emmanuel De Bauw, his wife Joëlle and the Head of Economic and Commercial Trade Jacques Vanhoucke called to meet staff at Rigid Containers last week, during the ambassador’s visit to Limerick City.

Rigid Containers, whose parent company VPK Packaging originates from Belgium, produces high-end corrugated packaging for industry, consumer goods, food & beverages, Pharma & medical, and E-commerce all over the globe. Mark Munnelly, Rigid Containers Site Director, said: “We were delighted to welcome His Excellency to Rigid Containers and share with him the success story of the company and our strong relationship with his home country. “He was extremely impressed with our facilities here in the Galvone Business Park, the €8 million investment made in the business to date and our plans for further growth. We are also very proud of our commitment to the local community, and were happy to share with the ambassador our pride in the sporting organisations and groups we support locally.”

Three years ago VPK Packaging, one of the fastest growing independent European manufacturers of recycled paper and corrugated cases with an annual turnover exceeding 1 billion EUR, bought ICS Europaks to develop its growing customer base in Ireland.  The Limerick business became Rigid Containers under the new ownership, and since then has operated and grown as a business unit producing high-end corrugated packaging to a global custom base.