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There can’t be
many businesses operating in Bury that can claim
to be part of a multi national business with a
billion dollars a year turnover. Nor can there
be many businesses in the town which can claim
an uninterrupted history of going back almost
three centuries. Yet today’s Printpack, the
packaging firm based in Bridge Hall Mills, can
place a tick in both boxes.
The origins of
the present day flexible packaging manufacturing
by Printpack can be traced to the Transparent
Paper Company in the 1920s. ‘TP’ Ltd, or
‘Tranny’ as the firm was known locally, started
the process of manufacturing cellulose film
(clear paper) at Bridge Hall Mills in Bury in
1928.
In 1993 TP Ltd
was acquired by Printpack Inc of Atlanta,
Georgia, in the USA. The business has since
thrived as part of the Printpack family.
Printpack was
founded in Atlanta by James Erskine Love Jr in
1956. In 1987, James died of a massive heart
attack at the age of just 59. The company
remains privately owned by the Love family
headed by Erskine’s eldest son Dennis as Company
President; Erskine’s widow Gay, remains
Chairman. |
Today Printpack
is firmly focused on flexible packing, turning
over more than a billion dollars annually, and
with 23 manufacturing plants in North America,
Mexico and Europe.
The headquarters
of the European business is Bridge Hall Mills,
Bury with another plant in Saffron Walden
Essex.
The UK operation
has a £60 million annual turnover with 330
employees, of whom some 230 are based in Bury.
Today the business supplies high quality printed
flexible packaging for wrapping crisps, snacks,
biscuits, confectionery and for labelling
carbonated soft drinks bottles. Printpack’s
main customers are major food and beverage
manufacturers such as Walkers Crisps, KP Foods,
McVities, Burtons Biscuits, Coca Cola, Fox’s
Biscuits, Cadbury and Nestle
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