Leading the food industry’s robotic revolution, PWR Pack is expanding its global success
Redefining excellence in food packaging automation, PWR Pack (PWR) is a name that’s synonymous with innovation. Standing for Packaging With Robots, PWR has manufactured and supplied over 2500 robots to organizations across more than 20 countries on four continents, affirming its world-leading position as the packaging technology provider of choice for an increasing number of customers year on year.
When Food Chain last sat down with Peter Mellon, PWR’s Managing Director, in 2024, he shared insight into the company’s background and how its sustainably-
focused, customer centric approach is revolutionizing the world of food packaging automation. Towards the end of our interview, Peter was thrilled to announce PWR’s latest innovation: Smartline – a brand-new range of high-speed, modular robotic packaging systems. One year later, we reunite with Peter to learn more about how the company has progressed since we last spoke, as well as how Smartline is being implemented into the market.
“A lot has happened over the past 12 months. The company is in a very good place; we’ve seen a 15 percent growth in the business, and we now have 110 employees. We’re continuing to sell high-speed robotic packaging solutions to the food industry on a global scale, so we’re in a very healthy position,” Peter reveals. “Our biggest recent development has been our move to a new production facility in the Netherlands. It’s a brand new company home, more than double the size of our previous facility. It has around 5500 square meters of assembly area and a further 2000 square meters of offices across three floors. After some delay in the building process, we finally moved in at the end of April 2025. The building is very modern, very sustainable, and it’s the perfect home to facilitate PWR’s growth over the coming years. We’ve also sold our first machine in India, which was quite the milestone for us; we’re very keen to move into the Indian market and this marks our first success.”
PWR’s break into the Indian market represents a key turning point in its wider strategic growth. “We’re receiving some very positive feedback from the Indian market,” Peter shares. “We attended our first trade show in India – the Anuga FoodTec Show in Mumbai – and it was very enlightening for us. We were pleasantly surprised by the reception we received from potential customers in India and there was a lot of excitement around automating the packaging lines. It’ll take a couple of years for us to get established in the marketplace, but we’re very determined to make an impact in India.”
At the same time, PWR has been making significant strides in its US expansion, in spite of the current challenges due to increased tariffs. The company is already present in the North American and Mexican markets, but a recent strategic partnership has skyrocketed its trajectory to new heights.
“We’ve been partnered with R.A Jones (a Coesia company) since July 2024. Partnering with Coesia was a very strategic move for PWR as it gave us an easier entry into the North American market, which is very important for our future. It also gave us greater visibility in that we’re now able to work with other Coesia companies to provide innovative, high-tech packaging lines,” Peter explains. “Despite the tariff situation, North American customers are still investing in European packaging equipment, so it’ll be very interesting to see how that works out over the next few months. The next step for us after that is to expand further into the South American market, again, in conjunction with R.A Jones.”
Innovating automation
Amidst this growth, PWR’s commitment to its customers remains evident through its bespoke solutions, which are all delivered to the best quality with the highest levels of care and consideration – from the initial conception right through to installation. Smartline, for instance, is a perfect example of how PWR tailors its solutions to the needs of a large multitude of different businesses, with the system’s efficiency and adaptability making it a huge hit in the food packaging market.
Peter elaborates: “Smartline was launched 18 months ago and has had a fantastic reception in the marketplace thus far. In comparison to the standard tailor-made line, the Smartline is a smaller configurable machine that works within certain parameters; it’s lower cost and so makes it easier for small- to medium-sized companies to enter into robot packaging. That said, we’re also finding that some of our larger customers are interested in the Smartline for niche product areas that have a smaller footprint, but that they’d still like to automate.”
Above all else, however, PWR’s dedicated workforce and consistent focus on innovation remains at the heart of its success. Every day, its team champions its core values of collaboration, respect, dedication, innovation, and customer focus – five qualities that make PWR a true standout in the packaging industry. Aside from the close-knit partnerships it forms with its customers, the company fosters a positive, high-performing corporate culture, one that encapsulates its team’s passion for the work they do.
“We’re very fortunate in that where we’re located in the Netherlands, there are a lot of people who have been brought up in the food industry, whether it be in the manufacture or supply, so there’s a strong talent pool for us to tap into. Additionally, we have very good connections to the local colleges and universities, so we have a number of graduates who come into the company on work placements or as part of their studies. We have a very high retention rate of young people in our business, along with several people who have been with us for 15-to-20 years. It’s fantastic; everybody can learn from each other,” Peter says.
Growth trajectory
Without question, it’s clear that 2025 marks another successful year for PWR Pack – one of innovation, development and strategic growth. Backed by another profitable 12 months, Peter is optimistic for the year ahead, keen to see the company expand its horizons further.
“We’re very busy right now. We’re building a number of machines, and our priority is to be totally focused on the jobs at hand. We’ve got another four or five big lines to install this year, so it’s very important for us to make sure that our customers are happy with their new machines,” Peter affirms.
“We’re already in the planning process for next year and beyond,” he concludes. “We’re currently looking at our budgets and how we’re going to maintain our growth trajectory without losing focus on our customers and our people. The management team at PWR are very focused on looking after our people, and we have a very robust, well-thought-out growth plan in place.”