About impaqtum

Why engage Impaqtum

Packaging is not an end in itself, but a means to effectively conduct your business and facilitate distribution, sales and use. Products, brand strategies and market approaches seek support from sensible designs that effectively enhance value - not work against it.

But the bigger companies grow, the more complex and demanding the markets they serve. And the more production facilities are judged by their short term productivity, the harder it seems to get it right. Does investing in better packaging boost profitability? Probably. How much? Hmmm.

And if we don't? Will it cost us? Certainly. And probably more than you think.

Impaqtum lifts the issue to a managerial level and works across disciplines. With dedicated know-how and tools, the focus is always on down to earth recommendations. This is not about creativity and design, but about decision making. Understand market needs and devise a proactive response. Accommodate retailer requirements but stay in control. Ensure efficient distribution. Invest in agile equipment and affordable flexibility. Brief suppliers to serve you with excellent solutions at low cost. And develop innovative business processes to make it all work.

• At business level, get the best out of both worlds.
• At a practical level, drive solutions that work well from a balanced supply chain point of view.
• At an organisational level, demonstrate that good designs do not emerge from creativity but derive from sound stakeholder assessment and adequate briefings.
• At management level, assure that packaging becomes a coherent portfolio of opportunities that suits relevant requirements of both the supply chain and the marketplace.

Ideal solutions undoubtedly exist, but not on this planet. And hiring an expert can never be an excuse to stop thinking or make your own decisions. But the quality of decisions can definitely improve. Solutions can be better. Costs will be controlled, and you win time. Valuable time of your key staff, to dedicate themselves to what they're really good at; speed up in response to customer demands and reduce the time to market new launches.

Some companies lack sufficient resources with relevant know-how and capability to manage this process internally. Engaging Impaqtum demonstrates they are serious about their performance and cost control, and understand the benefits of a dedicated and knowledgeable drive.

Background

Michiel Bouvy (1959) has his degree in business administration from Nyenrode University. He entered the packaging business with Bührmann Tetterode some 20 years ago. From then on, he developed with the company into the Smurfit Kappa Group of today, in various commercial, marketing and business support positions. From 1995 onwards he acted as an in-house consultant, responsible for the development, roll-out and application of innovative commercial services and tools, with focus on transport pack performance in the retail grocery supply chain. In the early days logistic cost optimisation was key, in later years the emphasis has shifted towards instore performance, retail ready (RRP) and shelf ready packaging (SRP).

Michiel has run numerous projects on innovation and cost/performance enhancement with major Pan-European FMCG customers such as Unilever, Reckitt-Benckiser, Procter & Gamble, Royal Frieslands Foods, Philips and Numico, to name but some, and retailers like Ahold, Sainsbury's and Tengelmann. He also has experience with countless workshops and training sessions across Europe, in-company, with industry associations (Fefco, NVC) and customers.

He has lectured at several conferences (IAMA, ECR) and universities (Essec, Tias).
In 2011, Michiel became board member of VNV, the Dutch Association of Packaging Experts.

In the course of 2007, Michiel started Impaqtum as an independent consultancy service. Today, European clients are serviced out of Breukelen, close to Amsterdam.