The move came into effect on 1 October after the Wellingborough-based business gave notice of its strategic decision to Partwell, which has been distributing C&T products for around 10 years.

“We’ve been operating through Partwell historically in the UK and a year ago we took on a salesperson who has started to sell directly to key accounts,” said managing director Simon Shenton.

“That’s been very well received by customers who prefer to have direct contact with the manufacturer.”

He added: “Partwell distributes many products, not just ours, and they don’t have the same focus or the technical expertise that we have. We’re very keen at the moment on technical sales and really giving customers a lot of technical back-up, because it’s important for our products.

“We feel we can get closer to the customer and there is also an economic benefit to them by buying directly from us.”

Shenton said the move has gone down very well with customers already as many did not have the resource or time to purchase matrix from one supplier and then source rubber and accessories from another.

“We have two types of customer; the box-makers who use our matrix, who have already been buying from us directly for the last year or so, and the die-makers, who would have previously bought from Partwell and are now buying from us directly.”

He added: “Another catalyst is that we’ve been extending our product portfolio so people can come to us as a one-stop shop now.”

C&T Channel Matrix sells and distributes its products to more than 80 countries worldwide. It offers several brands of creasing matrices including Kiss, Corrugate and Jazz.

Earlier this year the business started supplying high-quality cutting and creasing steel rules and has also recently launched a new portfolio of dedicated accessories for Heidelberg cylinder machines, a new type of durable counter material for long-run packaging and a new type of creasing matrix for carton manufacturing.