The outsourcing industry gathers to deepen understanding of economic and legislative landscape at BCMPA Conference 2026

Highlights included a presentation on the state of the economy by Trevor Williams, former chief economist for Lloyds Bank, who outlined the challenges facing businesses due to the conflict in the Middle East. The war has hastily revised all growth forecasts, and the volatility of the situation would impact the UK in the long term. He urged firms to embrace digitalisation, which he argued does not reduce jobs but increases wealth and income.

This was echoed by Mike Wilson, chief automation officer at MTC, who advised that robotic automation in manufacturing can help provide staff with the tools they need to do their jobs efficiently. Delegates were also warned by Victoria Speight, founder of Cyberfit, that businesses needed to have robust procedures in place to combat cyber-attacks. There are currently 23,506 known attacks on UK organisations every day.

"While our Conference highlighted the many challenges that lie ahead, what is clear is that our members have the solutions and innovative thinking to help," said Emma Verkaik, CEO of the BCMPA. "The more dialogue we have in our industry, then the stronger we become and I’d like to thank all our speakers, sponsors and attendees for coming together to be part of the industry conversation and provide practical ideas to enable our sector to grow."

The conference also heard from Esther Carter, chief strategy officer at Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme administrator PackUK. She highlighted that EPR’s initial payments across the four nations totalled £1.4bn. Over time, it’s hoped that modulated fees could remove unrecyclable packaging with the potential to push recycling rates to between 64-84%. 

Louisa Goodfellow, policy manager at Ecosurety, examined the financial and data obligations of EPR. She pointed out that while there is confusion in the market, it’s about understanding the scheme’s nuances. Jude Allan, MD for the OPRL, highlighted the importance of on-pack labelling for citizens to understand where to dispose of packaging waste. However, the government’s plans for mandatory labelling are currently paused as the UK is likely to align with the EU’s proposals.

The afternoon sessions provided practical solutions for delegates in dealing with their own operations. Stefan Casey, commercial and innovation director at Celeritas Solutions, outlined why co-packers are so important to the supply chain with the ability to remove risk for brand owners. Jamie Tinsley, CEO at Touchstone, gave an entertaining presentation which outlined his approach to empowering organisations to transform, engage and thrive, while James Coull, business manager at Wallace Hind, and Vicki Fitzpatrick, founder of The Wellbeing Focus, looked at best practice on retaining and inspiring talent in a business.

Technology was the focus for two other sessions: a panel discussion led by Josephine Coombe, chief commercial officer at Nulogy; and from Wayne Kedward, MD at Autopack, who addressed how businesses should go about selecting machinery and what pitfalls need to be avoided. On energy, Paul Gregory, group commercial director at HSEnergy Group, delivered his well-timed talk explaining how to invest in renewables at a volatile time in the market

The event was made possible by sponsors Nulogy and Packaging Innovations and Empack together with exhibits from Associate Members, Autopack, Barkwith Group, EcoVerify, Fenton Packaging, HSEnergy Group, Olympus Technologies and Quantum Packaging.

"It was encouraging to see so many engaged delegates listening to our highly knowledgeable line-up of speakers," Verkaik continued. "One of the roles of the BCMPA is to flag these important subjects to members, allowing them to be part of the dialogue that is shaping the future of the contract manufacturing, packing and fulfilment industry. We are stronger together and I can see that the members are embracing the positives and the learnings that can be found from industry collaboration."

The BCMPA is continuing to build its membership with potential full and Associate Members invited to find out more about the many benefits online at www.bcmpa.org.uk/join-the-bcmpa.