Two years after forming BoxWay Packaging from three corrugated plants from Saica, Andrew Woollard says the project to build an independent design led flexo and digital print is on course.
“Over the last two years the business has developed successfully and broadly in line with the original business plan, despite the challenging external environment,” he says.
In that time, BoxWay has spent £3 million on equipment at a plant in Peterlee and factory in Exeter. The factory in the northeast has installed a Weiping five-colour rotary die cutter, Eterna flatbed die cutter, Kolbus Autobox gluer, Midas gluer and Kongsberg cutting table. That in the southwest has taken delivery of a Hanway inkjet press, Eterna and Kongsberg while its SuperNova multi-point gluer has received an upgrade.
There has also been investment in its IT infrastructure for design and finance where Telford, once a third production site, is now the company’s finance hub. The headcount has risen to 70.
The initial investment phase has now finished, says Woollard. But it is not the end of the road. “Although we have reached the final stage of our initial two-year investment programme, with the last machine of this phase having been delivered only this week, we are always seeking sound investment opportunities through which we can further grow BoxWay Packaging, profitably. When the right business opportunities arise, we are certainly willing to invest, and the funding is in place to facilitate more investment, if and when required.”
The strategy at the outset was to appeal to mid sized and regional businesses rather than multinationals, an audience that had been ignored by the major packaging providers and forced to use sometimes under invested smaller suppliers.
BoxWay is instead carving a reputation in what it calls “the design led, bespoke digital and flexo arena targeting customers with a specific desire for distinctive, quality corrugated products where bespoke run sizes are important.”
