News

Paragon Print and Packaging is putting the final touches to a £5m factory dedicated to sleeves and cartons, hoping it will generate £10m of sales in its first year.

The 7,200 sq m hub in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, cost £3.5m to convert and the rest of the money will go on three Komori or Heidelberg flat-sheet litho presses.

Existing production sites for sleeves and cartons in Wisbech and in Norfolk will be centralised in the new factory, said marketing manager Rick Smith.

The plant is due to be fully operational in December, with reel-fed services rolling off Arpeco flexo presses. There will be artwork and repro departments.

"We do a lot of small to medium volumes," said Smith. "But customers were frustrated when it came to larger volumes. We were not competitive.

"Reel-fed machines will give competitive response times for bespoke small volumes. Flat-sheet production will support larger volumes of stock.

"By combing the processes under one roof, we can extend the service to cover small, medium and large volumes."

Around 80 staff – 30 of them new recruits – will produce around 20 million sleeves per month.

Paragon Print and Packaging supplies films, sleeves and cartons to UK retailers, employs 940 staff and makes a total group turnover of £117m.