Exclusive visit to Scotland for business acquaintances and clients of Type 2 Solutions

Type 2 Solutions’ 10th anniversary was the occasion for a series of events, the latest of which was held on October 4th and 5th in Girvan, Scotland. Girvan is the location of one of the numerous manufacturing facilities owned and operated by FMC BioPolymer, a division of the FMC Corporation, a valuable and loyal client of Type 2 Solutions’ since the very beginning of the company.

Type 2 Solutions’ choice for Girvan was easy: it is, after all, the nearest FMC BioPolymer manufacturing facility. But Scotland offers many perks, and a visit to a traditional Scottish pub was therefore a predictable opening of the visit.

After a good night’s sleep, the entire group headed out to the manufacturing location in Girvan, where Dave Stone, Global Operations Planning Director at FMC BioPolymer, welcomed everybody and talked about FMC BioPolymer’s activities as a supplier of semi-finished materials to the food and pharmaceutical industries. Applications such as toothpaste, ice cream, custard, paracetamol, and numerous other consumer goods make use of FMC BioPolymer’s products to secure some of their sensory properties.

The Girvan manufacturing facility blends different types of alginates, which are extracted from brown seaweed. Girvan is one of the currently ten locations worldwide that use Type 2 Solutions’ One2Label label management system, which has helped FMC BioPolymer to optimize their supply chain since 2002.

One2Label generates product and GS1-labels, and handles the implementation of GS1 standards and regulatory provisions worldwide.

The presence of GS1 representatives from the United States and The Netherlands was a nice opportunity to announce the official certification by GS1 of the logistics label in use at FMC BioPolymer. GS1 emphasized that FMC was one of the first members to promote the use of GS1 standards upstream in a global supply chain.

A plant tour gave the group the opportunity to discover the different aspects of FMC BioPolymer manufacturing, from goods reception to shipment, through blending, quality and packaging on pallets bearing the GS1 logistics label.

The Auchentoshan Whisky Distillery in the vicinity of Glasgow was the final stop of this two-day visit to FMC and Scotland. After learning about what it takes to make a good whisky – and sampling some of it, too – it was time to leave for Glasgow International and to board the flight back to Amsterdam. Back in the Netherlands, Type 2 Solutions thanked the group for attending the visit with such enthusiasm and wished them a safe journey home.

Will we see you at the next event on December 20th, 2012? On the exact day that Alexandre Klinkenberg and Jack de Hamer placed their signatures under the Articles of Incorporation of Type 2 Solutions, 10 years ago, join us for a wonderful celebration in the city of Rotterdam!