Benson Gateshead Installs Bobst Carton Line

April 2011

See Benson Group at interpack: hall 7.1, stand A40

Benson Group, one of the UK's leading privately owned carton printers, has installed the first of two high-speed Bobst Masterfold lines purchased at the IPEX exhibition of 2010 at its Benson Gateshead plant in Gateshead, Tyne & Wear.

Andrew Pybus, Operations Manager at Benson Gateshead, said, "Following our recent investments in both print and die-cutting equipment to release bottlenecks in production at the Gateshead plant we then needed to attend to our carton finishing capabilities. The folder-gluers at the plant were some of the oldest in the Group and the strategy behind ordering the new Bobst Masterfold lines was to balance capacity at Gateshead."

The machine that has been installed is a Masterfold 75 A1 version of the Bobst folder-gluer, complete with a Bobst Easyfeeder GT automatic feeder and a Cartonpack GT automatic carton packer for high-speed, reduced labour operation.

Andrew Pybus added, "Our core market for Gateshead is high volume sleeves and straight-line boxes for food packaging and this machine is already proving to be ideal for producing these products. Across the group we have had great success with Bobst Alpina's, the forerunners to the Masterfold, and we expect the same from this new line. Our Alpina's run at high-speed with great consistency on long runs, twenty-four hours a day, six days a week. It is this mixture of speed and consistency that gives us the production levels we need and we will use the productivity of the new Masterfold line to help drive organic growth at our Gateshead plant."

The purchase of the machine follows a review of folder-gluer operations at Benson Gateshead by Bobst Group (UK & Ireland) Ltd. Craig Moran, Regional Sales Manager for Bobst said, "At Bobst we have in-depth knowledge among our UK based staff about the production needs of customers like Benson Group. Lee Alton, our Area Sales Manager, who is a specialist on folder-gluers, carried out a systematic and highly detailed analysis of the gluing department at Benson Gateshead and recommended the replacement of four existing equipment with two, high speed lines and the re-alignment of folder-gluer bays to create a better workflow. This analysis, informed by the extensive product and production knowledge of someone like Lee, helped Benson Group make this investment decision."

The A1 variant of the Masterfold is a straightline carton version and Benson Group has ordered the machine with a speed upgrade to 700 metres per minute.

About Benson Group
Benson Group is one of the UK's leading privately owned printed carton suppliers, producing packaging product for both the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Headquarters are in Bardon, Leicestershire, where the company owns 130,000 sq ft of production and warehouse space. Benson Group achieves annual sales in excess of £110 million. Food manufacturers are the main customers at Bardon and for the company's two North East facilities in Newcastle and Gateshead. These two sites have a combined total of 200,000 sq ft of manufacturing and warehouse space. The fourth site in Crewe, Medica Packaging, serves pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. It has 73,000 sq ft of manufacturing, warehouse and office space. Since 2000, investment in new plant and equipment across the four sites totals in excess of £25 million.

Benson Group creates packaging for many well-known companies, brands and retailers. Key account clients across the Group include Northern Foods, Reckitt Benkiser, Greencore, Samworth Brothers, and the UK's leading supermarket chains.

About Bobst Group
Bobst Group is the world's leading supplier of equipment to the packaging industry. Its Business Unit Sheet-fed encompasses the Bobst, Martin, and Asitrade marques and delivers high productivity, value adding equipment to customers in the folding carton, corrugated, and commercial print industries, allowing them to raise productivity, reduce lead times, lower costs, and expand their businesses. The UK operation is based in Redditch, Worcs, where the company has a Training & Resource Centre and after-sales service facilities.

For further information on the Benson Group visit the www.bensongroup.co.uk web site.

Press Information

For further information on Benson Group, its operations, or on packaging products or packaging issues please contact:

Russell J Hicks

Genesis Marketing Services (Milton Keynes)
29 Foxholes Close, Deanshanger,
Northamptonshire MK19 6HA
Tel/Fax: 01908 260 662
Mobile: 07885 852 428
e-mail: Russ.Hicks@Genesis-Marketing.com

For further information on Bobst Group please contact:

Alistair Smailes

St. Ronan's Media
Tel: +44 (0)7768 110922
Fax: +44 (0)845 869 6004
e-mail: alistair@stronansmedia.com

Bobst Group (UK & Ireland)
Tel: +44 (0)1527 519710
www.bobstgroup.com/bobst
sales.uk@bobstgroup.com