Recently-appointed ePac UK managing director and managing partner John Peat told Printweek that the business has already looked at several sites in Leeds and the surrounding area, and that it hopes to be up and running at the new location by around August/September 2020.
“Leeds is the third biggest city in the UK and one of the fastest-growing, and the areas that we’re looking around will be central, around the motorway link, so that we’ve got access to Manchester, Sheffield and Doncaster,” he said.
Earlier this month the company officially opened the first ePac site in Europe, the 2,259sqm Silverstone, Brackley facility in Northamptonshire which went into production in October.
“Short-term, the north site will cover Leeds and the north up to Scotland, while Brackley will cover Brackley and the south,” said Peat.
He added the business is looking for a facility of around the same size as its first and plans to kit it out with two HP Indigo digital web presses and Nordmeccanica finishing equipment initially, as per the Brackley site, with a view to put a third press into each site further down the line.
“Right from the start, it has been the plan to cover each region with its own facility. We have the ability to replicate this flexible platform and service model anywhere but mould it to fit the different regions and countries,” said Peat.
The business is also actively searching for the most strategic locations in mainland Europe to establish more manufacturing centres.
“We will continue to roll out across the UK and into Europe. For the time being, the UK sites will serve Europe as we build up our customer base, with the view toward setting up shop in other countries as demand continues to grow,” said Peat.
He added the company has “started to see orders coming through nicely” at Brackley and that production at the facility is now starting to ramp up.
“We’re producing a number of live jobs throughout both roll stock and pouch jobs and now we’re bringing in more staff, as well as customers. We’ve got 10 staff at the Brackley site now and we’ll double that in the early part of next year.”
