Lesters is investing more than £2m in a 101,000 sq ft headquarters in Cannock as the packaging manufacturer reorganises production and targets £30m in annual revenue by 2030.
The family-owned company has taken a site off Watling Street combining manufacturing, warehousing and office space. Ten jobs will be created initially, with high-volume flatbed die cutting, specialist production and distribution expected to be operating from the building by November.
Office staff are due to relocate by the new year. Moving those functions will allow Lesters to change the role of its existing Mount Road factory in Burntwood, concentrating that site more heavily on high-volume production.
The additional building gives the company scope to separate different types of manufacturing work. Large repeat packaging orders place different demands on machinery, storage and workflow from shorter specialist runs, and handling both within the same production environment can create competing demands on capacity.
Lesters plans to use Cannock for specialist manufacturing alongside warehousing and distribution, while Burntwood takes a larger share of high-volume output. The company is also installing additional equipment, including a strapping line, waste extraction system, two-piece stitcher and conveyors intended to reduce manual handling.
A second TCY Jumbo Casemaker is under consideration after Lesters installed its first machine in 2021. Further investment would increase its ability to manufacture large-format corrugated packaging at higher volumes.
The company employs 64 people and supplies large-format cases and heavy-duty packaging to sectors including third-party logistics, ecommerce, freight forwarding and automotive.
Those customers use packaging as part of their wider logistics operations, making production capacity, storage and consistency important alongside the physical design of a box. Large customers can also create substantial swings in volume when contracts begin or seasonal demand changes.
Lesters says it has just recorded its best year and expects sales to grow by a further 25% over the next three years. Its longer-term objective is to reach £30m of annual revenue by 2030.
The new headquarters gives the business space to support that growth before all of the additional volume has arrived. That carries the usual investment risk for a manufacturer, because property, equipment and staffing costs are incurred before new capacity is fully utilised.
Production and distribution work is expected to begin at Cannock in November. Once the office move is completed, Lesters will operate the two sites with more distinct roles as it works towards its 2030 revenue target.
You must be logged in to post a comment.