The company has invested the money in a Bobst multi-point gluer, Diamond Box’s second, which was installed last week, and a 2.5m "state-of-the-art" fully automatic rotary die-cutter developed with manufacturer Latitude and set for installation at the end of this month.
“It has taken two years of design and development,” said chief executive Kavi Jundu. “It’s the only machine of its kind in the world. It can do really innovative things like printing both sides of a carton in one pass and applying peel-and-seal tape as part of a production process."
Jundu explained that the new device was geared towards the e-commerce markets and was designed to introduce innovation and efficiencies into the manufacturing process.
“Before we helped develop this, there was nothing in the market that could solve this problem for us. We have quite a big customer base in e-commerce and it’s a really growing part of our business.”
Jundu said that the new kit would make the business “hugely more efficient” and that he expected it to provide around £4m-£5m worth of additional capacity to enable the business to grow further in the e-commerce market.
The installs come ahead of a planned expansion into a neighbouring facility in June that Diamond Box will initially use for distribution. Jundu said that planned investments in large-format corrugated equipment will eventually enable manufacturing within new markets to take place at the new 4,645sqm site. The expansion will create around 25 jobs, according to Jundu.
The investment is some good news for the firm after a lengthy investigation into an accident at Diamond Box’s main 10,200sqm site in 2014 in which a maintenance worker severely injured his foot.
The firm was ordered, last month, to pay a £400,000 fine and costs of nearly £10,000 after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act, which resulted in the worker being dragged into a piece of machinery at the firm’s West Bromwich site, in 2014.
The accident happened when a third-party contractor was repairing a cardboard printing, slotting and forming machine and put his foot onto an exposed conveyor, which then activated and dragged him into the machine’s moving parts.
The resulting HSE investigation found that a ‘jog mode’, featured on the machine, should have been enabled to allow the maintenance work to be carried out safely, however this had not been done and neither had staff been trained in its use nor a rule for its use been enforced.
Summing up the case at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Judge Berlin labeled Diamond Box’s maintenance practices as "utterly dangerous" and said the risk to workers had been “wholly avoidable”.
The HSE inspector dealing with the case, Caroline Lane, said: “The company relied on the experience of maintenance employees rather than controlling risks through careful assessment and putting safe systems of work in place.”
Commenting on the incident Jundu said the accident was very regrettable and had been the result of “a perfect storm” caused through the machine not being enabled or made safe in the right way and the worker not wearing the correct footwear.
“We had used him for many, many years and this time he had not been through the normal contractor safety procedures because he was so familiar with the site,” Jundu explained.
He said the firm had since reviewed its third-party contractor procedures and regulations and stepped up safety checks.
“We have passed numerous inspections since this happened and there have been no concerns raised so I’m satisfied that safety standards are being properly met now,” he added.
Diamond Box turns over around £25m annually and employs around 150 staff across the business.
