PACKAGING FACTORY BOXES VERY CLEVER IN LEAMINGTON SPA

The UK packaging manufacturing industry has annual sales of £11 billion and employs some 85,000 people, representing three per cent of the UK’s manufacturing workforce. Its productivity is more than double that of all industries’ average performance and it is a world leader in product innovation and manufacturing technology.

The Box Factory, based in Leamington Spa, is one of the region’s major corrugated packaging design and manufacturers. In the last few years the company has invested around £5.5 million in manufacturing and materials handling equipment, according to Managing Director Neil Price.

What’s also a pleasure to learn is that The Box Factory isn’t working towards 100 per cent recycled materials, it’s already there, and the ink it uses is water-based too.

Neil said: “Our main manufacturing site is one of the most sophisticated

ARRK invests in new Midlands-based facility

Engineering, prototyping, tooling and low volume product development company ARRK Europe has opened a 40,000 sq ft injection moulding facility at Kings Norton, South Birmingham.

ARRK, which has its European prototyping headquarters in Gloucester, also has a strategic alliance with its Kings Norton neighbour Paintbox, which is a fully robotic paint plant. ARRK’s new site has created around 45 new jobs with more opportunities on the horizon.

ARRK European Managing Director, Tony Lowe, said: “With this geographical advantage close to the heart of the UK automotive industry, ARRK is well placed to support customers. Our alliance with Paintbox offers a one-stop shop, with moulding, fully-automated robotic painting, assembly, electronic data interchange (EDI) and logistics.” and automated in the UK. What used to take six or seven people to achieve now takes just two, but because we’ve grown as we’ve automated, we’ve increased our employee headcount, alongside the robots which now pick and place our goods ready for dispatch.”

The Box Factory produces approximately three million boxes every month for a varied range of customers.