This week we spoke to Mick Carless, our Machinery and Systems Operations Manager about all things machinery. From the latest trends, to how machinery is helping customers solve their biggest issues, and why now is the time to invest. Plus much, much, more. Read the full article below.

These unprecedented times have created many new challenges for businesses as they face the new reality they find themselves in. Demand for certain products such as food and drink has grown rapidly, buying habits are changing, and businesses need to keep products moving out the doors, while at the same time ensuring their employees are well protected against infection. Keeping workers safe while demands are at an all-time high can be a challenge in itself, especially when measures such as social distancing, very rightly, need to be enforced. Learn how packaging machinery can help.

The growth of online retail is no longer ‘news’ but finding ways to cope with the peaks and troughs in demand continues to be a challenge for many retailers and logistics businesses. It’s a challenge that some might feel is compounded by the continued uncertainty around Brexit and how that may affect the availability of casual labour that is often relied upon to cope with packing work during busy periods.

Why automate your stretch wrapping process?

Well according to Mick Carless, Sales and Engineering Manager for the Antalis Packaging Machinery Division the answer is simple – cost and time savings.

Continuing full-steam ahead with its regional growth plans, Antalis has launched three new packaging branches to serve rising demand in the South of England, in a move aimed at helping local businesses address their packaging dilemmas.

Amid the ongoing struggle to recruit enough seasonal staff over the Christmas period, Antalis is reminding businesses that machinery which speeds up the packing process can reduce the need for additional labour during the festive peak in demand.

Already the largest provider of Papers, Visual Communications and Packaging in the South West, Antalis has grown its footprint further with a new, larger site in the Bristol area. The new facility – opened in April and now fully stocked and operational – increases the firm’s footprint to an impressive 70,000 sq. ft. of capacity across its Bristol, Basingstoke and Newton Abbot locations. This move has been possible as a result of its now strong strategic partnership with Gregory Distribution Limited.

Food manufacturers and retailers looking for cost-effective and eco-friendly packaging to transport their chilled or frozen goods will be pleased to hear that Antalis now offers WrapPak^® Protector, a pioneering new thermal packaging solution.

Already the largest provider of Papers, Visual Communications and Packaging in the South West, Antalis has grown its footprint further with a new, larger site in the Bristol area. The new facility – opened in April and now fully stocked and operational – increases the firm’s footprint to an impressive 70,000 sq ft of capacity across its Bristol, Basingstoke and Newton Abbot locations. To put that in context, that is 5.2 Olympic swimming pools of floor space in the region, and is more than double the capacity of their nearest competitor in the region (who claim to hold 30,000 sq ft of capacity).

With its packaging division continuing to go from strength-to-strength, Antalis has unveiled plans to extend its regional network of packaging hubs across the UK, including Bristol, Coventry, Newcastle and Leeds.