Ken Springham, former founder and managing director of Inka Presswood Pallets, has died at the age of 77.
Springham started his packaging career in the quality control laboratory of Thames Board Mills in the early sixties.
In the late sixties he changed jobs to work as a sales engineer for Tri-Wall Containers and by the late seventies he had risen through various roles to managing director.
Springham was one of the key figures in developing heavy duty corrugated board in the UK and helped the company gain notoriety and several packaging awards.
In a statement, his son Mark Springham said: “With the demise of the president of the Tri-Wall parent company and the subsequent shake up, Ken was advised to make 60% of his staff redundant – this troubled him greatly.
“So, having spotted the potential of a new product, the IBC, he left Tri-Wall with a colleague, John Graham-Campbell to establish a new company (Pensteel) in the early eighties to distribute IBC’s through the UK.
“At the time, the German-made IBC was new on the market and he & John were the main driving force accounting for the success of the IBC in use in the UK today. In 1984 they created another company, Inka Presswood Pallets, which has acted as the sole UK distributor of the Presswood Pallet ever since.”
Springham passed away, aged 77, following a prolonged battle with dementia on 17 March, leaving his wife Brenda, two sons and three granddaughters.
