Aspect Productivity Technology sat down with CEO David Tsui and his team to get an update on Bonson.
There have been a number of changes at Bonson since we last spoke to them in 2016 about AspectPL MES software. Most recently Bonson navigated the Covid-19 lockdown as an essential service and developed a refreshed brand and new website. In 2019 Bonson celebrated 35 years in business and acquired their own distribution business in Brisbane.
They are also using AspectPL data to help implement their sustainability philosophy by monitoring machine power usage.
Aspect Productivity Technology sat down with CEO David Tsui and his team to get an update on Bonson.
Rebrand and New Website
The Bonson rebrand started when the marketing team investigated upgrading the Bonson website. During this process, it became clear that the separate Bonson and Savpac brands needed to be brought together.
The team talked to staff and customers about what made Bonson unique and the visual brand and strapline started to take shape. They wanted to express their internal values, their commitment to sustainability, while providing customers with packaging that addressed their needs.
The brand strapline Packaging a unique solution expresses how Bonson is able to provide a solution for any requirements – compostable, recyclable, or even custom.
David says “Developing a new brand and website is a major project – probably the most significant project we have undertaken since building and moving into our current premises in Portage Rd. We are very happy with the outcome and have received lots of positive feedback about the brand.”
Sustainability Philosophy
Sustainability is an important message at Bonson. They support a circular economy, recyclable, bio-degradable and compostable products.
Bonson promotes a reduce, reuse, recycle and recover philosophy and applies these practices to operating their own business.
An example of this is Bonson using data from the AspectPL MES software to monitor the power usage of their machines. Machine output might be the same but power usage can fluctuate. This data from AspectPL helps Bonson to reduce their electricity costs and carbon footprint. Bonson reports that the data supplied by AspectPL has helped achieve a 5% machine power usage reduction.
AspectPL MES Software – 10 years on
The timeline on Bonson’s new website shows that this is a company that applies incremental improvements to propel and optimise their business.
Bonson implemented AspectPL into their business 10 years ago. At the time David said “We reached a point where, if we wanted to grow further, we needed to embrace technology and digitise our factory environment. And the best technology we found is AspectPL.”
In 2020 the Bonson production team are still very happy with AspectPL. They use the production scheduler, yield and OEE reports and product and resource history to manage productivity gains.
David says “AspectPL is still a great tool for us. It helps us measure our productivity – we can monitor our KPIs daily and monthly.”
Covid-19 Essential Service
Named as an essential service, Bonson was in full production throughout New Zealand’s Covid-19 lockdown in March to August, 2020. As the public’s concern about food hygiene grew, Bonson was able to supply safe and sustainable packaging to the New Zealand and Australian market.
We asked David about how Bonson operated in lockdown.
“First and foremost, our priority was the safety of our staff. Although we run a food grade quality and safety operation, we still enhanced all our practises. We instigated clean shift changes, additional cleaning and sanitising and checked staff temperatures. We also added additional break rooms to ensure social distancing both on and off the production floor.”
David said they appreciated that in 2020, having safe food packaging has become very important to the public. The Bonson team were happy to help during lockdown and felt lucky they could still operate their business.
Distribution Acquisition
Another key milestone for Bonson was acquiring a distribution company in Brisbane, in 2019.
David says “The opportunity came up to buy Wong Lee Ltd. in Brisbane. They are a key distributor for Bonson and this purchase allows us to manage our own distribution in that region.”
Although 60% of production already goes to Australia, having an office and warehouse in Brisbane has enabled Bonson to generate more business across the Tasman. David says it’s been a good education in operating a business under Australian regulations, managing remotely in this Covid-19 era and selling directly to the end user.
Congratulations to Bonson on their new brand and website and for their recent achievements.
