The investments, said the company, will support further growth and meet demand for its range of Away-from-Home (AfH) professional paper hygiene and wiping products. And, it added that it will help maintain an even greater level of consistency of off-take from its waste paper suppliers.
The family-owned company has made a multi-million pound investment to expand its site with new 14,500 sq m warehousing and administrative premises. It has invested more than £400,000 in additional site infrastructure to provide new offices, pallet racking and IT equipment.
A major investment on the paper side is £3.65 million on a state-of-the-art Gambini wide production line. With a capacity of around 13,000 tonnes per year, the new line will run industrial rolls using 3.42 metre wide jumbo reels from Northwood’s Chesterfield-based mill.
Among other investment is £1 million on a fully automated packaging and palletiser equipment for its roll towel and toilet tissue lock-out systems converting line. The company has also recently taken delivery of a new fleet of eight trailers.
New phase
Paul Mulready, Northwood Hygiene Products’ marketing manager, said: “This recruitment drive and latest round of investment at Northwood marks an exciting new phase for the business as we further expand our capabilities and increase our market presence. Like many firms, we were affected by the pandemic, but we have weathered the storm and, as businesses have started to reopen, we are seeing a big increase in demand once again. The future looks bright and we are investing significantly in infrastructure to increase capacity.”
Pete Foy, operations director, added: “In such uncertain times, and in a market which has seen unprecedented suppression of sales, Northwood is proud to have continued its aggressive investment programme.”
Waste paper
Jim Garner, operations director of Northwood Recycling Limited, said: “This is a welcome development for the wider company and will help Northwood Recycling Limited to maintain an even greater level of consistency of off-take from our waste paper suppliers.’’
Northwood made three major acquisitions in late 2019, covering five sites in the UK and Spain to increase its paper production and converting capacity, as well as expanding its European presence.
Mills
It also installed world-leading manufacturing equipment at one of its two tissue mills. The £2.5 million investment at the Lancaster site increased output and enabled the Telford facility to diversify, the company noted. Last year, Northwood said it invested more than £7 million in its Birmingham facility to increase its total daily output of toilet paper rolls to 2.5 million and create 27 new jobs.
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