Neil Jones

Bobst announced the death of Neil Jones on 2 November 2026, describing him as its long serving managing director for the UK and Ireland. The announcement did not give the date, place or cause of death, or his age. The news was carried by Printweek, FlexoTech, World of Print, Eye on Display and ThePackagingPortal, and reported by Packaging News on 9 November.

Craig Moran, managing director of Bobst UK and Ireland, said: "Neil was an exceptional leader and a great friend to so many of us. He understood our industry in extraordinary depth, but it was the way he treated people that made him so special." Raphaël Indermühle, chief sales and marketing officer of Bobst Group, said Jones would remain an inspiration and an example.

Details of Neil Jones's early life, including his date and place of birth and his education, were not included in the published tributes. He began his career as an engineer and joined Bobst in the United Kingdom in 1988.

Jones joined Bobst, the Swiss manufacturer of equipment for the printing and packaging industries, as a field service technician in 1988. In 1993 he moved into training, supporting engineers and operators working with corrugated flatbed die cutters and sheet fed flexographic presses. He became UK service manager in 1996.

In 2006 he was appointed president of Bobst Group Japan, serving for just over four years. He returned in 2010 as managing director of Bobst UK and Ireland, and his remit later expanded to the Benelux and Scandinavian markets, where he supported the development of Bobst Services. He also held the post of Scandinavia zone service director, Northern Europe.

He was known for giving others the chance to progress, and personally championed apprenticeships and early career development, supporting the training of eleven apprentices across field service and customer care.

In voluntary roles he joined the board of EFIA, the European Flexographic Industry Association, now FIA UK, in 2012 and served as its chairman from 2017. He also sat on the board of Picon, the trade association for packaging and printing machinery suppliers, and supported Young People in Print and Packaging (YPIPP).

Jones was a passionate supporter of the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Benevolent Fund in Loughborough. Through company events over a decade he helped raise more than 100,000 pounds for injured serving members of the UK armed forces. Bobst's statement extended condolences to his family and loved ones; no further details of his family were made public.

Jones is remembered in the British print and packaging industry for a career that ran from the workshop floor to senior international leadership, for his long service to the flexographic sector through EFIA and FIA UK, and for his commitment to training young people. Bobst said his contribution was measured in business achievements, but equally in the trust he earned, the opportunities he created and the people he supported.