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Successful Christmas Campaign

We delivered over 250 care packages to homeless shelters and charities in Nottingham and were featured on Notts TV. See below for the coverage

 

 

Supermarket surge leads to 25 new jobs at Nottingham food packaging giant

 

A food packaging firm is offering up to 25 temporary contracts created following a surge in supermarket orders.

 

The Wilkins Group, a carton packaging supplier, has been classed a 'key Industry' following the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, and so is now taking on extra staff to ensure its role in the retail food industry chain is fulfilled.

 

Justin Wilkins, sales and marketing director at the Colwick-based firm, said: "Due to the current global and domestic situation and increased demand, the business is urgently seeking skilled operators from the printing industry.

 

"These contracts will be temporary but may turn into permanent roles dependent on future circumstances."

 

The announcement comes as Tesco, Asda, Aldi, and Lidl said they would hire thousands of staff after huge demand saw shoppers clearing shelves.

 

The Wilkins Group operates within the textile market from sites in China, Romania, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka but its food packaging operations are firmly based at its Nottingham HQ.

 

The business has 294 staff in the UK and deals with major supermarkets to produce items such as ready meal cartons and packaging for confectionery, pastries, quiches, sausage rolls and ice cream.

It reached a group turnover of £36 million last year.

 

Earlier this week Mick Searle, chief executive of the Packaging Federation, and Martin Kersh, executive director of the Foodservice Packaging Association, both reiterated packaging’s huge role to play as the UK goes into lockdown.

 

“Packaging is extremely important in circumstances like this,” said Searle. “People need to get what they want and safely. We are in totally unchartered territory”

 

Mr Wilkins added: “We are all working in unchartered waters, and we would really love to give temporary contracts to those most effected by the job cuts announced in the last few weeks.”

The Wilkins Group scoops Midlands Family Business of the Year

 

Packaging and printing firm The Wilkins Group has won top prize at the 10th annual Midlands Family Business Awards.

 

The Wilkins Group, a third-generation Colwick-based company, won ‘Family Business of the Year’ at the recent awards.

 

Justin Wilkins, sales and marketing director, said: “There are so many great family businesses in this part of the Midlands so just to be shortlisted was a serious success for us. The fact that we’ve now won the overall prize is just amazing. We invest a lot of time and effort in creating more sustainable ways to package consumer goods.”

 

The company has more than 500 staff across five sites around the world, running

 

factories in Sri Lanka, Romania, China and Bangladesh.

Easy Fairs Exhibition Stand 2020

 

Packaging Innovations 2020 at the NEC was a great packaging show for us, we were able to network & meet new prospective clients.

 

We were able to collaborate & problem solve as well as show off new innovative solutions that brought many liked mind packaging professionals to our stand!

 

 "The show was very busy and  I am  pleased to confirm the exhibition was a great success for the Wilkins Group. We have come away with many new opportunities and planned meetings that will hopefully lead to strategic partnerships going forward" - Gary Nightingale, International Business and Marketing Manager

 

Hope to see you at the show in 2021

Wilkins Christmas Tree Giveaway

 

We've sent out over 500 Christmas tree shrubs to our clients as part of our Christmas tree growing competition. Our senior management team will measure the trees in November 2020 and the largest grower will be rewarded with vouchers worth £100. We are committed to reducing the use of single-use plastic and we want our customers to share this passion too.

 

 The wooden Ecocube contains certified organic seeds and growing media. After about 8 months the tree can be re-potted by placing the entire Ecocube into a pot with soil. The Ecocube will slowly decompose and turn into a valuable fertilizer.

 

To get the most out of your trees, we recommend putting them on a warm radiator and watch them grow! By warming the soil it gives them a growth spurt - plus don't forget to water them everyday and get in touch to show us your photos

 

Post your snaps on twitter using:

 

#wilkinschristmastree

Investment in New Digital Sampling Machine

 

The Wilkins Group have invested £50,000 in a brand new production UV Flatbed which is cable of printing directly onto the actual production substrate .

This means that instead of showing our customer's their designs on a super bright white proofing paper, we can now show them on the exact board that the final print job will be produced upon.

 

With a warehouse of board, we have an extensive portfolio of substrates and printing directly on to these has an advantage over traditional proofs as the substrate can have a major impact on the colour reproduction.

 

Our digital sampling machine can print white and also emulate matt, gloss and satin varnishes and is capable of printing on to material up to 153mm thick, so we have most things covered. We can now offer a fast, accurate sampling service.

Award Hopes for Family Business of More Than Five Decades

 

A global packaging firm based in Nottingham has made the shortlist in the Midlands Family Business Awards.

 

The Wilkins Group, a family business of three generations which has a head office in Colwick, is hoping for success in the International Trade category.

 

Sales director, Justin Wilkins, said he was delighted the company had made the shortlist in the awards, which recognise and reward success across ten categories.

 

He said: “The Wilkins Group has seen massive growth globally over the last decade. Making the shortlist for the Family Business Awards is great recognition of all of the hard work that we have done over the last 54 years. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a win; it would be a great boost for everyone in the group.”

 

For more than ten years The Wilkins Group, which was founded in 1963 by graphic designer Ken Wilkins and his son Andre, has become integrated overseas with manufacturing hubs covering Eastern Europe, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and China with the infrastructure to service many surrounding countries.

 

Today The Wilkins Group is focused on bringing progression to Sri Lanka and its other offshore sites.

 

Justin said: “The garment industry has a need to have its packaging well controlled and to a high quality, which is backed up by a highly focused team in the UK to service retailers and customers.”

 

This year has seen the company invest in a state-of the-art machine for its new Fuse division, to enable it to cater for the luxury packaging market. It has also purchased new machines for its Romania division.

 

All finalists at the Midlands Family Business Awards are entered into the People’s Choice category, which is decided by public vote. Voting closes on October 31. The winners and highly commended in each category of the awards will be announced at an awards ceremony and dinner at the Derby Velodrome in November.

 

Log onto familybusinessawards.co.uk to vote

 

 

The Wilkins Group Becomes ‘The Whole Package’ With First Machine of its Kind

 

A Nottingham-based packaging company is launching a new arm to its business following a 600K investment in a specialist digital foiling and varnishing machine – the first of its kind to be introduced to the UK for the carton market.

 

The Wilkins Group has invested the substantial sum in the new equipment, and showroom renovation, set to house FUSE- A brand new division, providing innovative, luxury packaging with a premium finish that is completely digital.

 

Focused on the high-end digital enhancements to packaging, FUSE has been created to cater specifically for premium packaging markets such as the cosmetics, perfumery, liquor, confectionery and gifting industries.

 

Justin Wilkins, sales and marketing director at The Wilkins Group, said: “Following a demand in the market for luxury packaging, we decided to extend our expertise into the premium packaging market by developing FUSE, as a sub-brand of the Wilkins Group.

 

“The investment means that we can now provide advanced foil blocking and varnishing methods in short runs with the only machine of its kind in the UK for carton production. This will allow our clients to amplify their brand and take it to the next level.

 

“This is a huge asset to both the Wilkins Group and our customers. We are very excited to introduce the new services that FUSE offers at thePackaging Innovations trade show in March.

 

A wing of the company’s Nottingham headquarters also underwent a £100,000 redevelopment to house the new machine, which saw structural changes and an incorporation of the FUSE branding throughout.

 

Covering 5,000 sqft, the FUSE branch consists of three main sectors: The Development Room, where clients meet with the in-house graphics team to watch their ideas come to life, the Buzz Zone, which focuses on inspiration and innovation, and the Production Room, where visitors can watch the machine transform digital graphics into a printed product while they wait.

 

Justin added: “The name FUSE was picked by our staff members in an internal competition. The name represents the fusing of traditional print with new, innovative technology. We are eagerly anticipating its official launch at the Packaging Innovations show next month, and look forward to meeting with many more high-end brands in future.”

Packaging Firm Invests in £600,000 State-of-the-Art Gluing Machine

 

A Nottingham packaging company has invested more than £600,000 in a new state-of-the-art gluing machine to keep up with growing industry demand.

 

This will be the sixth gluing machine to be installed at the Nottingham head office and it will enable the group to increase its capacity.

 

The machine, a Bobst Expertfold, is a high-performance carton board gluing machine, which covers various types of packaging profiles including crash lock base, four corner gluing and six corner gluing plus much more.

 

Justin Wilkins, sales and marketing director at The Wilkins Group, said: “This is an exciting addition to our factory, as it is a high spec machine which can construct all the various types of packaging designs we need at a fast pace.

 

“We now have six gluing machines at our Nottingham branch, this machine has the latest technology, so we are excited to see the results.”

 

The company, which achieved a £27.5m turnover last year, noticed a market surge in the packaging market and invested in the equipment in order to meet a higher demand for packaging products. The business is now trading at circa £30m turnover in UK.

 

Justin added: “We are delighted to be improving our services by investing in machines like this which allow us to provide a greater capacity of high-quality packaging for our clients at a faster rate.

 

“This investment will allow us to keep up with the higher demands from our current clients, as well as allowing us to take on new projects.”

 

The Bobst Expertfold runs cartons at a speed of up to 100,000 an hour and automatically boxes them.

 

The new equipment will be used predominantly for the food industry, as the Nottingham-based branch of The Wilkins Group specialises in food packaging.

 

A global company, The Wilkins Group also has offices located in Sri Lanka, Romania and Bangladesh, distributing packaging worldwide.