Essentra has officially opened its purpose-built labels manufacturing facility in Newport, Wales.
This investment provides the company with a 52,000ft2 facility from which to meet the growing demands of both existing and new business across its target markets.
It follows the announcement that the company is to acquire Clondalkin Group’s Specialist Packaging Division for around US$455m.
The Newport site incorporates Essentra’s latest investment in digital printing and a cleanroom for production of primary packaging foils for the healthcare market. To ensure the exacting requirements of this market are met for this new product, the cleanroom meets Class 8 ISO standards and is the first for Essentra.
The factory also meets Essentra’s internal standards for quality, and has gained the triple certification of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS, as well as the BRC/IoP global standard for packaging and packaging materials.
Our Essentra facility at Newport represents a substantial investment in our label and primary packaging capabilities
The new facility was opened by Essentra’s Chairman Jeff Harris and Chief Executive Colin Day in front of employees and Economy Minister Edwina Hart from the Welsh Government, which provided £290,000 of business finance for the project. The site currently employs 66 people and has plans for further expansion.
Jeff Harris, Chairman, said: 'Our Essentra facility at Newport represents a substantial investment in our label and primary packaging capabilities, and ensures we have the best operational footprint and necessary space to meet the growing needs of the healthcare and consumer packaging markets we serve.
'Our new site is a world class operation with the best in cleanroom technology, and builds on the strong reputation we have developed from our other locations in order to serve our customers worldwide.'
Essentra offers customer solutions from a broad range of capabilities for both secondary and primary packaging requirements. Authentication expertise adds layers of protection which can be tailored to address the brand protection needs of individual customers. Capabilities include the production of cartons, leaflets, foils, tapes, labels and tamper evident seals.
