More jobs follow new first for Hunts manufacturer

THE acquisition of a new �600,000 machine from Germany not only makes a family Huntingdon company unique, but is also providing 10 more people with jobs.

THE acquisition of a new �600,000 machine from Germany not only makes a family Huntingdon company unique, but is also providing 10 more people with jobs.

Mainline Flatpacks, based in Glebe Road, lays claim to a number of ‘firsts’, but its latest – when commissioning is completed in three weeks’ time – is to be the only company in the world to run more than one of the specialised folder-gluer machines.

Between them, the two machine will mean the company can produce a million ‘envelopes’ – the cardboard packets used extensively by internet retailers and parcels companies.

“There are only 100 of these machines in the world – and we now have two of them here,” said managing director Barry Lill. “This is a bit of a niche market.”

The �5million-a-year company has recently won major contracts with TNT to provide 15million branded envelopes a year, and with a major household-name internet retailer which needs 25 million.

“We have been running 24 hours a day and were going to struggle as Christmas approached, so we decided to invest now in the extra capacity,” Mr Lill said. “We hope it will also help to attract other internet retailers.

“We are Europe’s largest manufacturer of cardboard envelopes and specialist packaging. Like most manufacturing companies we suffered through the recession, but are now going through a major growth spell at the moment.”

The company, which employs more than 50 people, has taken on five new employees since the beginning of the year, and now expects to recruit five more.