Lord Stafford, a deputy lieutenant of Mercian's home county of Staffordshire, visited the Burntwood operation last Thursday (4 June) to unveil a commemorative plaque and witness the company’s processes in action first hand. The event’s guestlist was rounded out by employees, suppliers, customers, friends and family.

Having already hired four new members of staff across print, finishing and front-of-house in 2019, co-owner and sales and marketing director Hugo Gell said that Mercian would continue to look for new hires in the coming months to further consolidate.

“I think the secret to our success has been that we always recognised the competitive nature of the industry but have never given way to the lowest common denominator,” he said. “Profit is not a dirty word and you should make money in order to reinvest it.

“We are always striving to be better. Especially in the past 10 years, we have grown tenfold from a relatively small player to a world-class manufacturer of self-adhesive labels. It has been a quantum leap and we now have to work to prove ourselves.

“Everybody is singing off the same hymn sheet here, and the song is good. This year will be a very exciting one in terms of growth and everybody is up for the challenge.”

As part of the celebrations last week, a cake was cut by Mercian’s longest-serving and most recently joined employees: Alison Witton has worked at the firm for 25 years and Anna Folwarska was employed 25 days before the event.

Visitors were also guided through two recently launched company initiatives: an environmental drive, 'Mercian Zero', intended to eliminate landfill waste and remove harmful solvents from the manufacturing process; and 'Mercian Gold', which showcases the company’s premium embellishment services.

From its 2,230sqm facility, which was opened in 2014 and as of last year is Mercian’s sole base of operations, the company employs 50 members of staff on a £5m turnover which Gell and managing director Adrian Steele hope to double “as quickly as possible”.