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ALWAYS INNOVATING<br />
YOU DON’T MAKE<br />
IT TO 137 years old<br />
accidentally or by<br />
good luck. Driven by<br />
changing markets,<br />
industries and customer<br />
needs, Jenkins<br />
Freshpac Systems takes its long history<br />
of innovation and delivering on its<br />
promises very seriously. It is not a recipe<br />
you rush to change.<br />
A decade before she was allowed to<br />
vote and only 40 odd years after the<br />
Treaty of Waitangi was signed, Jane<br />
Elizabeth Jenkins arrived in New Zealand<br />
and started her fledging printing<br />
business, J. E. Jenkins in Hobson Street,<br />
Auckland. It is hard to imagine the<br />
challenges that faced Jane back in 1883<br />
when starting a business in what was very<br />
much a man’s world.<br />
In the business’ early years, Jane<br />
Jenkins focused on the production<br />
of heavy weight paper banking bags<br />
and the business eventually moved<br />
into producing stationery and specialty<br />
envelopes, becoming J. E. Jenkins the<br />
Printers.<br />
During the great depression, the<br />
business fell on difficult times as her<br />
debtors were unable to meet their<br />
commitments to her business and a deal<br />
was struck with the Parkinson family,<br />
who travelled out to New Zealand on<br />
the same boat as Jane. The Parkinson’s<br />
continued to trade the business and<br />
became known for their supply of labels<br />
into the pharmaceutical industry.<br />
In the 1970’s, Tony McInness joined the<br />
business to work alongside father-inlaw<br />
Tom Parkinson and together they<br />
rationalised the business to focus on the<br />
JANE ELIZABETH JENKINS, LEFT, AND A<br />
JENKINS PRINTERS VAN CIRCA 1950.<br />
newly emerging innovation of selfadhesive<br />
labels that no longer required<br />
the additional application of gum or glue<br />
to adhere to a surface. This led Parkinson<br />
and McInness into investigating the<br />
concept of labelling fruit and was the<br />
beginning of a relationship with Sinclair<br />
that endures to this day.<br />
The Sinclair International system allowed<br />
brand and variety information to be<br />
carried directly on produce all the way<br />
into the end-consumers hands. For the<br />
first time, growers could differentiate<br />
themselves and sell their added value for<br />
a premium over their competitors.<br />
GENERAL MANAGER JAMIE<br />
LUNAM AND SALES MANAGER –<br />
CONSUMABLES ANN CAMERON<br />
DEMONSTRATE JENKINS<br />
NEW HERO PRODUCT, HOME<br />
COMPOSTABLE PLASTIC-FREE<br />
NETTING FOR PRODUCE, AS<br />
THE COMPANY CONTINUES<br />
TO EVOLVE ITS TRADITIONAL<br />
BUSINESS. PHOTO/SUPPLIED.<br />
Direct to fruit labelling went on to<br />
be a core part of produce marketing<br />
strategies and New Zealand brands<br />
can now achieve between 10 and 30<br />
percent more than their competitors by<br />
shipping our proof of provenance with<br />
our product.<br />
In the current day, this ability to attract a<br />
premium translates to several hundred<br />
million more dollars in export earnings<br />
14 | YEAR BOOK <strong>2020</strong>
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