Jan Eisby celebrates 25 years at Vetaphone

Jan Eisby, one of the two sons of the corona treatment inventor Verner Eisby, has celebrated a quarter of a century at Vetaphone. Over the last 53 years, this family-owned company has become one of the global suppliers of surface treatment.  

When Verner Eisby invented corona treatment in 1951, he could scarcely have imagined that his two sons, Frank and Jan, would still be running what has become a leading global supplier all these years later.

‘It’s always been a family business, so I’ve known it from a young age – in fact, there was no way of getting away from it at home,’ remarked Jan, for whom 2024 marks the 25th year in the company.

Beginning in 1999 as sales manager of a team of two, Jan spent much of his early years building sales in Europe.

Over the years, Vetaphone has developed its business in other international markets, especially the USA and Asia, with Jan as chief sales officer, establishing a sales and support network and training the personnel. 

Today, the company is represented in more than 100 countries worldwide, and since 1999, sales turnover has increased more than tenfold.

‘The packaging market has seen dramatic changes over the past 25 years with the growth of filmic substrates and the development of new printing techniques like digital that have replaced the more conventional offset, gravure, and flexo methods in certain sectors,’ said Jan.

‘At Vetaphone, we have always invested heavily in R&D, and that allows us to reflect these market changes by continually developing our technology – this applies to everything from narrow web corona to sophisticated plasma treatment systems for special applications, and many others in between,’ added Jan.

Jan highlights the effect of the global crash of 2007/8 that forced Vetaphone to rethink the business and restructure its operation to the issues involved with the global Covid pandemic in more recent times and problems with supply chains, raw materials, and changing working practices. 

‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and we’re a resilient bunch here at Vetaphone,’ said Jan.

Looking ahead, Jan sees an exciting and challenging future for packaging with developments in new production techniques, new substrates, new intelligent packaging products to match changing consumer habits, and a marked improvement in environmental practices worldwide. 

‘Plastic now has a bad image in many people’s eyes, so it’s incumbent on those who work in the industry to change this perspective. That’s why Vetaphone has always believed in education because it is the only way that people, whoever they are, can make the right decisions,’ added Jan.

In his current role as chief business officer, Jan looks forward to developing a stronger educational link within the industry through the company’s agency network and via the Vetaphone Academy.