Jobs on the way as Telford firm Eurofilms invests £2.5 million

The Telford-based pallet wrapping maker is reconfiguring its factory on the Hortonwood Industrial Estate in preparation for installing two major new pieces of machinery which will massively expand the company's capacity.

Wellington-based construction company McPhillips is already onsite, with part of the factory's roof removed to make way for the new machinery.

At present, the company has a number of machines which allow it to produce 15,000 tonnes of packaging film in-house each year.

The tallest of the current machines, the installation of which also saw the factory roof height extended, sees film drawn up in a long bubble through the centre of the machine, before cascading around 40 feet down, creating a waterfall-like effect.

It is then packaged as rolls, and used for wrapping paAdd Newllets for a variety of industries.

The addition of the two new machines is seeing McPhillips extending the roof height to around 25 metres (82 ft), and will add another 6,000 tonnes to the factory's annual output.

With a three-year timescale in place for the business to reach full capacity on the new line, it expects turnover to reach around £35 million, while the workforce will increase from its current 80 to nearer 110.

The company also plans to continue investing in its expansion after the current work is complete later in the summer.

Chairman Graham Humphreys said: "It's not practical for us to consider moving our machinery at this stage. The gargantuan effort of moving everything to a new site is not worth contemplating.

"Unit A on our estate is 25,000 sq ft, and is currently being used as warehousing.

"That could perhaps be changed into manufacturing space, and we could use one or two of the other units on the estate for our warehousing."

The company, which marks its 20th anniversary of launching this year, was supported by Telford & Wrekin Council in accessing money through the Green Bridge Fund to support the investment.

That came in two waves, with £80,000 going towards a total spend of £300,000 on the first two pieces of converting machinery.

A further grant of around £190,000 was then added to Eurofilms' investment of around 2 million euros (£1.44 million) on another Macchi machine.

"The Green Bridge funding has come in two tranches, and is based on job creation, and the need for us to employ additional full-time people on the team" added Mr Humphreys.

"I attended a Telford Business Board meeting where I heard about the Green Bridge, and Telford & Wrekin Council has been helpful in terms of in terms of securing the funding."

The new additions are considered to be more environmentally friendly because they produce a thinner film.

Phil Challinor, Telford & Wrekin Council's strategic inward investment officer, said: "By using the Green Bridge Regional Development Fund programme we were able to access significant funds for Eurofilms.

"In the last 12 months Telford was awarded Assisted Area status which allows businesses to bid for significant European and government funding."

Eurofilms is the biggest independent company in its field in the UK, and the second biggest in Europe. Its customers include food manufacturers, supermarket chains and logistics companies.