Exciting Times at Winpak

Isn’t it amazing how each of the recent years has caused us to face different and unique challenges?

From a business perspective, after two years of double-digit volume growth for Winpak, 2023 stands out as a year of normalization and a year of volume compression for our industry. Customers de-stocked as a remnant from the global logistics crisis of 2022 and the ensuing consumption slow-down resulting from rising prices at a higher pace than disposable income. A little bit of breathing room was welcomed to ease capacity crunches, while we are frantically adding capacity to take on new challenges.

While safety was already and remains our primary focus, the transformational journey initiated since 2018 under the OneWinpak umbrella is already bearing fruit with:

• An improved customer experience thanks to our reorganization by market
• The Wipak-Winpak global Wiicare healthcare focus
• Our offering of an expanding portfolio of environmentally friendly, recycle-ready products thanks to massive investments in new technology
• The gradual decarbonization of our plants and portfolio to help our clients meet their own environmental pledges, and circularity via recycled or renewable content

We are now back to pre-pandemic levels of investment this year and will accelerate our investments in the coming years to support the launch of more innovative solutions to support our transition to low carbon, recycle-ready, circular, and renewable products.

A second axis of our journey focuses on our Winpak community, developing an inclusive, open-minded, equitable, dynamic, and enthusiastic environment for all Winpakers. We strive to eliminate barriers and bias as we learn from the vast richness of cultures and backgrounds that constitute the tissue of this company. We also recognize the increased challenge posed by mental and other health-related issues. Hence, we have added specialists to our human resources organization, for both DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) and for Wellness, to help us craft better support, learning, and training programs for our organization. Winpak recognizes learning and understanding in these areas is continual. And as for safety, the journey is relentless and never ends.

The new year will kick off an increased focus on operational excellence building upon and expanding the assembled team of subject matter experts around key processes. Machine learning, process and quality optimization, all using artificial intelligence, will be considered to drive our improvement. Additionally, we will set OneWinpak standards and best practices for our key manufacturing processes across all business units.

As the holiday season is at our doorstep, let’s reflect on the tremendous accomplishments of Winpak employees who again were able to rise above and beyond the normal call of duty and shape another excellent year in the midst of difficult headwinds. Our improvements in safety performance and continued customer-centric focus served us well.

I am very excited for the road ahead. Our pipeline of new technologies and products is strong. Capacity expansion with the latest technologies and the focus on operational excellence will put us in a top-of-class position related to capabilities. Our focus on safety and embracing of DEI means our OneWinpak community can confidently implement all these opportunities, united in our efforts to overcome any unexpected challenges and focus on a promising future.

Safe and Happy Holidays to All!

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