COMPANY PROFILE


Today Cullen-made moulded pulp products are found everywhere from inside television and vacuum cleaner packaging to coffee shop cupholders and, of course, hospitals.


One remarkable video produced by Cullen demonstrates their ‘Clinker’ bottle packaging – named after the ships built within striking distance of their Glasgow base – which, once wrapped around a wine bottle and inserted into a corrugated cardboard box, can withstand being dropped from a height of three metres.


One product currently in development is a moulded pulp biodegradable bottle, while there are also plans to create a grease- proof pulped product to help expand the supermarket product range into other fresh foods.


Around 200 million Cullen-produced moulded pulp trays a year are used for products such as avocados, peaches, pears and apples to protect produce and to display it without the need for plastic.


“It is amazing to think of where we were, where we came from and what we are now doing,” muses Mr MacDonald, who tells of the shock he often sees on people’s faces when he explains a plastic alternative can take more than 400 years to waste away. Cullen’s biodegradable offering can be gone in just six months.


“That takes people aback. It’s scary but it’s the truth. I tell them that plastic packaging will outlive five generations of their family, whereas our product is gone in six months.


“How much better is it for the environment to do it this way?”


Like any business with more than nine decades on the clock, it hasn’t always been plain sailing.


Founded by Robert Cullen and his sons, the business began making boxes and high-end packaging for premium whisky brands.


By 1986, a consortium led by Ronnie MacDonald, David’s father, had taken over the firm with its staff roll of just five and turnover of £200,000.


Rebranded as Cullen, the business expanded to offer bespoke corrugated cardboard packaging for a wide range of customers.


The only issue was what to do with the offcuts of cardboard?


A solution came in the shape of a company in nearby Kirkintilloch which specialised in using pulped cardboard to make simple packaging products.


The takeover helped propel Cullen into a double-edged business: its corrugated cardboard arm providing sturdy packaging printed, cut and glued to suit a vast range of clients, while the other used its own and others’ waste card and OIN – over- issued newsprint - to develop its role in moulded pulp products.


Having nurtured the business to success over two decades and with another role as owner of Hamilton Academical Football Club to keep him busy, Ronnie stepped back to sell his 50% stake in the business.


But within ten months and in the grip of a UK-wide recession, the firm with its 90 staff was in administration.


“My father sold on a good company, but it was a difficult time for the new owners,” says David.


“When he had the opportunity to buy back the company, we all asked, ‘why go back into it?’ But my dad is a big believer in people and the staff. He didn’t want to see them out of work.


“He went back, focused on driving sales, new markets and testing it to see what products we could do.”


A fresh focus on the moulded pulp and – crucially – a decision to build their own machines using in-house engineers and designers has been at the core of Cullen’s rebirth.


From a small business offering boxes for whisky bottles, the company has grown to employ 200 at its Glasgow base. Some have been with the business for over half its entire lifespan.


While, of course, the current crisis is not what anyone wants, there has been a surge in demand for Cullen’s pulp products both from the NHS and supermarkets, leaving staff working flat out while maintaining safety guidelines.


“We have national critical infrastructure status, and we’re proud that what we do is needed at the moment,” adds Mr MacDonald.


“We’ve been taken aback by how amazing our staff have been to make sure we rise to the challenge in this time of need.”


www.cullen.co.uk 33


The past 18 months have seen a multi- million-pound investment in the moulded pulp facility including an extension and new manufacturing machine. More recently, there’s been another multi- million-pound spent on two Bobst-made machines for the corrugated packing side of the business.

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