(L-R) John Kirkland, chairman of Bower and Kirkland, Pauline Latham, MP for Mid Derbyshire and Graham Tattam, managing director, DS Smith Packaging, Belper
Major construction work has begun at the Belper factory of DS Smith Packaging, the UK’s leading supplier of corrugated packaging. The £6 million expansion of the existing facility in Derbyshire will include a state of the art printing press, and will enable the factory to continue to produce recycled corrugated packaging for some of the world’s largest brands.
The factory in Belper employs 170 people and has been in the town since the early 1960s. It specialises in the manufacture of printed corrugated boxes, which can be seen on supermarket shelves across the country. The expansion represents the first phase in an ambitious plan to add 50% to the site’s production capacity.
Graham Tattam, managing director of DS Smith Packaging in Belper, said, ‘We are delighted to have secured this investment, it is a massive vote of confidence in the team at Belper and will ensure we continue to produce industry-leading quality packaging.’
The start of the building work was marked with a ceremony on the site, attended by Graham Tattam as well as Pauline Latham, MP for Mid Derbyshire, and John Kirkland, chairman of Bower and Kirkland, the local construction company responsible for building the new facility.
Ms Latham said, ‘It’s great to see a local manufacturing business have the confidence to invest at a time when others are finding trading conditions pretty tough.’
www.dssmith.uk.com
