Roger Thomson entered the newly-created role in October and has set to work establishing himself across the corrugated manufacturer’s network of customers. Working remotely, he will be focused on discussing new product possibilities with clients in order to optimise Cepac’s own offering as it advances.

With more than 20 years of experience, Thomson comes to Cepac from a year-long stint as sales director for Swanline Print and has previously worked for Multi Packaging Solutions (MPS) and Parkside Flexibles.

Cepac sales and marketing director Steve Moss said: “Roger has a great range of experience that is relevant to the direction in which we want to take the business. His focus will be purely on innovation – there is so much going on in our industry and so much opportunity.

“He will look to match our customers’ needs to the products we produce, feeding back to us what they say to inform our development. He will have wide-ranging access across our business which will give him the headspace and time to develop ideas.

“The key message behind this hire is that we can achieve more if we work together – we have always had close partnerships with our clients and having Roger onboard will help us to forge even closer and deeper relationships.”

Based from home, Thomson will have access to all four Cepac sites – based in Darlington, Rawcliffe, Doncaster and Rotherham – and the wide array of clients that comes with them.

A key focus of his work will be developing corrugated-based products to replace disposable plastics – a hot-button issue of the past year. One particular area of interest will be Cepac’s Arcwise curved corrugated packaging system, developed with German firm SCA, which Thomson will discuss with clients.

“Cepac has always impressed me as a business which actively and openly embraces the future with an entrepreneurial approach, driving the business growth and development and staying ahead of the curve,” said Thomson.

“It’s this dedication to doing things differently, more sustainably and effectively that I want to build upon and help to take to the next level.”