The London Chamber of Commerce has awarded Jones Packaging with the 2018 Corporate Icon Award, determined annually by the Chamber’s board of directors. The organizers of the award explain, “The Corporate Icon Award is presented by the board of directors each year to a corporation that has demonstrated particular excellence or achievement in business, making either an immediate impact on, or a substantial long-term contribution to, the economic progress of our community.”
Past winners of the London Corporate Icon Award include McCormick Canada, Libro Credit Union, Goodlife Fitness, TD Canada Trust, 3M Canada and London Life, among others. Jones Packaging will be recognized at the London Business Achievement Awards on March 21, 2018.
Jones was founded in 1882, under the name Lawson & Jones Inc., as a regional manufacturer of drug boxes and specialty drug labels. The company has evolved into a global power in delivering innovative packaging and medication dispensing solutions. “The London community has played an important role in our business for over 135 years, and we wish to extend many thanks to everyone who has helped make us who we are today,” said co-owner and Principal, Corporate Development Chris Jones Harris.
In announcing its 2018 winner, the London Chamber of Commerce explains “[Jones Packaging] grew its roots in London as a regional manufacturer of drug boxes and specialty drug labels until 1920, when founder Henry Jones established Jones Box and Label based on Dundas Street East. While the company’s role in the pharmacy industry continued to expand, it also began to support the primary packaging needs of some of the most recognized global pharmaceutical and consumer brands through the middle of the century.”
The company became known as Jones Packaging Inc. in the mid-1990s under the ownership of fourth generation Jones family members Ron Harris and Chris Jones Harris. Jones then moved to its current 135,000-square-foot primary printing and converting facility just off of Veterans Memorial Parkway in London, Ontario.
“Jones has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to innovation throughout its history, from introducing the first pre-gummed prescription label for pharmacies in the early 1900s to distributing the first child-safe vial to the Canadian market in the 1970s and co-developing the first compliance card for multi-medication regimes in the 1980s,” noted a statement by the London Chamber of Commerce. “Over the past several years, the company has participated in key international alliances, acquired European compliance packaging leader Venalink Ltd., as well as contract packaging leader Ivers-Lee Ltd., adding a new, 76,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art contract packaging facility in Toronto to its locations in 2013.”
Jones provides what it describes as integrated printed and contract packaging solutions including intelligent packaging, folding cartons, labels, leaflets, pouching, blistering, vial filling and secondary packaging. The company also offers a range of medication dispensing and delivery products for many of the largest pharmacy groups and independent pharmacies, hospitals and long-term care facilities across Canada and Europe.
“Our journey has been based on quality and trust with our customers – both long-standing and new – while adapting our business to respond to their needs,” said Jones Harris. “Today, we have grown to become a global leader in delivering leading-edge packaging, medication dispensing solutions and a technology portfolio that continue to drive many market firsts.”
The London Chamber of Commerce also noted Jones Packaging’s corporate giving plan and ongoing participation in local capital campaigns for London Health Sciences Centre, the Children’s Hospital and Thames Valley Children’s Centre, to name a few. Over 200 of the company’s 350 employees work and live in London and its surrounding area.
Print this page
