Specialist industrial supplier Jet Technologies and Victorian label maker Rapid Labels have joined forces to meet the high demand for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supply chains across Australia have been stretched to their limits to satisfy the sudden increase in demand. Suppliers of product labels have been forced to work double-time to produce high volumes within tight deadlines.

Jet Technologies is one of those suppliers, having overseen a 500 per cent increase in distribution volumes over the usual monthly numbers.

“We’ve scaled up our operations significantly,” says Jack Malki, director of Jet Technologies.

“During this high demand period, we’ve successfully continued to meet demand, so our clients can continue to effectively respond to the needs of their FMCG customers,” he says.

It’s a particularly challenging feat to achieve, considering Jet’s printing and packaging goods are sourced from overseas markets, many of which have been heavily affected by COVID-19.

Jet Technologies’ new Melbourne hub has been instrumental in supporting key Victorian customers, including long-term client Rapid Labels. Rapid supplies self-adhesive labels and flexible packaging to many Australian FMCG companies in both the food & beverage and nutraceutical markets.

The sudden spike in demand has put pressure on FMCG suppliers, says Rapid Labels managing director David Power.

“The consumer demand has led to our customers in the FMCG market being put under a lot of pressure to increase their product throughout, and we’ve had to rise to the challenge of meeting this increased demand,” he says.

“Jet Technologies has supported us to meet this challenge, and we’ve been able to rapidly ramp up and turn around a substantially higher volume of labels and flexible packaging in a much shorter time frame than usual.”