Managing director Khalid Sheikh says relocating the site's staff and facilities into the 75 000 ft2 purpose-designed former Procter & Gamble distribution centre will "fulfil a long held-dream". Contract packing operations and office personnel will begin moving this month. The plant should be fully operational by July.
The single-storey factory will incorporate facilities for design and repro, flexible pouch manufacture and filling, production of pillow packs, quadro seal and other stand-up bags, and high quality flexo and gravure printing and finishing.
Equipment will include one of Europe's first Totani-shaped pouch making machines and a fully automatic spout application and spouted pouch filling line which can fill via the spout, ensuring filling to over 97% capacity.
To be BRC/IOP accredited, the factory will also house equipment to enable Clifton to continue providing a co-packing, pack design and problem-solving service to top European food and drink producers, and a machinery showroom. The company has a successful offshoot selling complete packaging lines.
Sheikh says he hopes to fulfil another ambition "within months" by creating a packaging "centre of excellence" at the factory. This will offer training in all aspects of flexible packaging manufacture to UK and overseas companies and enable customers to undertake trials and r&d within a fully operational production environment. He has already recruited a "senior industry figure" to head it up.
