For the past 40 years the Sheet Plant Association (SPA) has helped Sheet Plants adopt best practice solutions when faced with threats or opportunities in business. The SPA achieves this by hosting 3 Conferences a year and regularly launching new ‘Best Practice Initiatives’. This prolific work rate can only be achieved with the sterling work of a voluntary, highly-committed Committee. For many years the SPA Committee has been made up of 5 Members (who hold senior management roles within the sheet plant sector) plus a paid secretariat.
Part of the SPA Committee’s role is to research and recommend support resources that we believe our member companies need in order to become and continue to be excellent businesses. Once those resources are put in place in the form of initiatives, a key role of the Committee is to ensure that all existing SPA members are able to take advantage of the resources and that we do all we can to encourage new members to join the Association to reap the benefits.
To that end, the SPA has taken the initiative to create a new role on the Committee for a Supplier Member to take responsibility for focussing on Membership – involving both Member Liaison and encouraging Sheet Plants to join the Association. We are delighted to announce that Nick Geary of Bobst has taken on this role from the start of 2023.
Nick regularly meets with UK Sheet Plants in the course of his ‘day to day’ dealings and has long been advocating SPA membership to Sheet Plants who are not currently members, as he feels they will benefit from the Best Practice Initiatives and Networking opportunities the SPA offers.
A few words from Nick:
“I started in the corrugated industry in 1985 as a mechanical engineering apprentice at UK Corrugated, Tamworth.
After gaining my HNC BTEC in mechanical engineering I put my skills into action working within the papermill, preprint, integrated corrugator plant, flexo folder
gluers, rotary die cutters, flat bed die cutters and a 2.8 corrugator taking on tasks from installations to maintenance repairs.
In 2004 I joined BOBST where I progressed to become project service manager specialising in corrugated products. I established himself well within the BOBST customer base as a knowledgeable and well-practised project manager.
I joined the BOBST sales team in 2013 and as an integral part of the team I use my extensive experience and technical knowledge with corrugated board processes and running of plants to assist customers with their machine investments.
I understand and value the importance of the Sheet Plant Association within the corrugated market. Independent plants have the ability to react to customer needs and spot market trends and changes through SPA Membership. This is refreshing and challenging for suppliers who have to come up with innovative ways to cope with customer design and production demands.
The SPA is an association that can benefit many independent companies and this is a message that I will be sharing with customers and colleagues within the industry. I aim to both promote membership and increase member engagement and attendance at SPA events and training sessions which can benefit both Supplier and Converter members.”
The SPA thrives on member involvement, be that participating in SPA events, training and forums, or offering guidance, assistance, experience and expertise. We look forward to seeing Nick take on a hands-on role in the future of the Sheet Plant Association and to help cement its future.
