9 December 2016

BPIF member becomes stronger from Boxing Day floods

The Leeds site of the UK's leading decorative print finishers and BPIF member, Celloglas, celebrate success this month having developed a new arm to the business as part of its recovery less than a year after it was hit by £2million of damage caused by the Boxing Day flood.

Creating three new jobs for local workers, Celloglas has developed thefolderworks as a sub-brand, offering high-speed folder make-up coupled with a range of innovative Celloglas finishing options. Proving an immediate hit, the high-speed folder make-up machines create 10,000 folders per hour and up to 4,000 capacity folders per hour. Short run folders are also available, with off-the-shelf folder templates to choose from.

A development that will take the business to new audiences as well as servicing existing clients in new areas, this expansion with the KAMA ProFold 74 folder-gluers sees them innovate in times of diversity, providing the site with further opportunities to grow revenue. The business has invested in nine machines since the flood, and as a sub-brand of Celloglas, a range of decorative finishing options including lamination, spot or overall varnishes, glow in the dark, fragrances or glitter, can be applied to your folder with ease.

Richard Pinkney, a Director of the business since 2000, said, "It was a scary time for us. When our industry or other forms of manufacturing fall victim to a flood, we really lose the ability to do our job. It's a long process getting up and running again and it's not dramatic to say that this flood could have been the end of this site, a site we've been growing for the last 10 years, but thanks to fantastic support from suppliers, insurers and of course our staff, we could turn this around. We felt it was the right time to innovate and bring something new to the business and we are delighted with how popular thefolderworks has become. Installing the new folder-gluers has also helped us expand our trade finishing activities to a nationwide customer base, as opposed to restricting ourselves to Yorkshire, Lancashire and more northern areas, which has predominantly been our focus up until now, so we have tapped into a business growth opportunity here too."

Celloglas activated their Local Emergency Organisation Plan after the Boxing Day flood hit the area - one that had not been flooded for 75 years - when the site was under 1.3 metres of water.  Calling all hands on deck, 95% of staff attended on the 27^th December and all staff pitched in on Monday 28^th to start the clear up. Alongside this, the other two operational sites within the UK reacted to Hunslet's needs as part of the business's emergency contingency plans, which included manning up during Christmas to clear their decks to assist with capacity.

Good will and support also came in abundance from clients and suppliers - crucial during and post event. Richard said, "Our strong relationships with our suppliers really paid off, many of which pulled out all the stops to replace our equipment. One supplier even lent us a specialist machine to tide us over. This is a great testament to our collaborations within the industry, something we're really proud of".

He added, "We are also very grateful to the BPIF, who offered support and assistance including access to funding for flood relief. We'd also like to thank the Printers Charitable Trust, who supported every member of staff with a £250 payment over the Christmas period".

The BPIF contributed to the company's recovery plan by advising on H&S matters post flood and provided factory planning through BPIF consultancy, along with other aspects of business support. 

To process the insurance claim, the team proceeded to identify the losses based on their asset register. However, with many machines being unique, the policy revealed the risk that the market price for the replacement machines would no longer be reflected - something that could have risked the business's recovery if suitable replacements couldn't be found.

Richard added, "Many people have asked what lessons we have learnt from this, and it is that you can plan for disasters, but until one unfortunately strikes you, you are never really ready for one. What this did illustrate though, is what a team we have. The support and good will of the entire staff throughout this period was outstanding and I was pleased to see that our communication channels worked effectively. We were vulnerable when it came to assets and we have since carried out a full re-evaluation with our broker - I'd encourage other businesses to do the same as a matter of course. Another vulnerable area is around loss of earnings, and we are very pleased with the support received from our insurance company who has worked with us over the last few months whilst we build up our production capacities again".

"Where we were strong was in our market knowledge. We keep up to date with what machines are in the marketplace and what we might invest in next, so we were ready to move forward with innovation when it came to replacing machines, because we were aware of the opportunities".

thefolderworks will provide Celloglas with greater flexibility and greater volume output, already noticeable in production of capacity wallets, 'open' wallets and board envelopes, as this division fast becomes a strong addition to the business.