CORRUGATED packaging manufacturer Durham Box has revealed that a period of growth has resulted in the firm expanding its factory and investing in equipment and manpower to up-scale the business to meet increased demand for its products.
Despite the pandemic-related uncertainties of last year, Durham Box said it has ‘exceeded’ forecasts with year-on-year growth across the business, driven largely by rising e-commerce demand. This has been complemented by the company’s ability to deliver digitally through its Nozomi C18000 single-pass, ultra-high-speed LED inkjet corrugated packaging press.
Following this purchase in 2019, Durham Box committed to spend nearly £2.5 million to increase the footprint of its Bishop Auckland factory and invest in new machinery.
The business was awarded a £200,000 grant by the County Durham Growth Fund to help build a 20,000 square foot extension and re-design existing space to improve production facilities. As a proviso of the grant, Durham Box committed to create an additional 20 jobs, a task already fulfilled following a recruitment drive aimed at bolstering sales, design and production functions. Further recruitment is now planned.
Investments in machinery have included a Bobst die-cutter, a Bobst gluer, a box taping machine and a large format flat bed die-cutter from Century Machinery that is scheduled for installation in September. A mobile pallet racking system has also been installed, providing 4,000 pallet locations for product storage and stock call-off.
Dan Morris, Durham Box’s MD, said, “The acquisition of the land and investment in new machinery has put us in an ideal position to expand our client base and improve efficiencies. However, to facilitate this increase in volume and to cope with the rise in demand of our products and services, the company needed to re-design the factory layout, and with the support of the County Durham Growth Fund we have been able to do just that. We will continue to invest in people and technology as well as the production facility to ensure that we stay ahead of demand.”
