Lockley new president of Inx Europe

Former senior vice-president of Crown Packaging Europe Peter Lockley has taken the reins of Inx International’s European operation.

Lockley made the move from the packaging giant to the global inks and coating manufacturer last month, taking up his new role on 8 August.

"I have many years of industry experience in business development and management. I believe that my career at Crown has given me a complete understanding of the packaging industry, which will benefit us going forward," he said. 

Lockley will operate from the company’s UK base in Heywood, Greater Manchester, which has 131 employees, including 51 in-plant representatives. He will be reporting to INX chief executive Rick Clendenning.

Clendenning said Lockley brings “extensive experience in business development and management” to the role.

The four managing directors reporting directly to Lockley from around Europe will be Avi Bukai, Antoine de Lebeau, Peter Tresadern and Marco Zanella, along with European financial director Nicolas Sagalow.  

Lockley said he has big plans to develop the European arm of INX.

“The long-term goal in Europe is to offer the full product line that we provide to Asia and the Americas,” he said.

“Most of these lines have been introduced and we will focus on greater penetration in the European market. More recently, we have concentrated on expanding our UV capabilities.”

Lockley has been in the print and packaging industry for 29 years, having started at UK packaging firm Metal Box in 1987. At Crown, he was responsible for its Europe-based drinks can business, Bevcan, and oversaw the opening of a $50m (£37m) manufacturing facility in Turkey.

"The market for INX UK is quite buoyant. That said, there are significant uncertainties to deal with, especially due to Brexit, which might have a major impact on companies like ours that import many raw materials and export a high proportion of our finished products,“ added Lockley.

INX says it is the third largest producer of inks in North America. It has more than 50 facilities around the world, including six in Europe.

In March, it used Fespa Digital to launch several new inks for a number of applications.