History

Back in 1997, one idea was behind the foundation of the Global Packaging Alliance® (GPA) – the vision of producing standardized packaging and designs for brands at various locations worldwide. With the foundation of GPA this vision was brought to life. Today it is a consortium of six independent, globally active, medium-sized packaging companies for folding cartons based on six continents.

It all started with a request submitted by brand owner Gillette. At the time, Gillette was customer of Diamond Packaging (USA) and rlc | packaging group, Leunisman (Germany). The company decided to reduce its supply base and cut down on the cost of product and packaging development. For this reason, Gillette invited suppliers to come up with proposals. Diamond and rlc chose to join forces in the tendering process and established the North Atlantic Packaging Alliance (NAPA), which targeted Gillette’s “North Atlantic region”. Harry Voss, Diamond’s owner, and Hans-Christian Bestehorn, rlc’s Managing Director knew each other well from meeting at various Gillette functions. In response to Gillette’s request, their concept was to reduce launch lead time and provide brand consistency around the globe.

In order to meet Gillette’s needs from a global perspective, representatives of Diamond and rlc got together to look at manufacturing capabilities. Their mutual goal was to greatly streamline the packaging process and ensure that – once development was complete - both companies could immediately manufacture identical packaging. From the beginning, the idea was to “Think Global, Act Local”. And by joining forces, the alliance solved both of Gillette’s objectives.

Having re-named the network to Global Packaging Alliance® (GPA) in 1999, the group members began looking for other family-owned companies with a similar philosophy and manufacturing capabilities to match around the globe. After Australia-based Colorpak had joined in 2000, the Alliance grew quickly. Goncalves (Brazil) followed in 2001. Polygrafoformlenie Flexo (Russia) became a member in 2002, Kumar Printers (India) in 2005, Masterpack (South Africa) in 2008, Samwon Printing (South Korea) in 2016 and ZRP Printing & Packaging (China) in 2018. So far, PrintPark (Turkey) which joined in 2019, is the youngest group member. Together these companies guarantee uniform production standards, while supporting international consumer goods manufacturers in their efforts to maintain a consistent worldwide brand image.