Innovia opens manufacturing facility for polymer banknotes
Innovia has opened a new, start-of-the-art, high security plant at its Wigton site in Cumbria for the manufacture of the substrate used for polymer banknotes.
The Bank of England’s new polymer £10 banknote substrate is being produced at the new facility, ready for circulation in the Summer of 2017.
This follows the launch of the Bank of England’s New polymer Fiver, also manufactured by Innovia, which will enter circulation on September 13th.
Both notes are manufactured using Innovia’s unique ‘Guardian’ polymer substrate and high-security ‘Clarity C’ film, which means that the new banknotes are uniquely identifiable due to an in-built ‘fingerprint’ in the polymer film.
“This is a proud moment for everyone at Innovia,” said Mark Robertshaw, CEO of Innovia Group. “We are delighted and honoured to be a key part of the Bank of England’s introduction of polymer banknotes and to inaugurate a truly state-of-the-art plant that will also drive future export business for the UK,”
The opening of the new plant brings the total amount invested in the past two years by Innovia for its polymer banknote business in the Wigton site to well over £40 million and has led to the creation of an additional 80 skilled jobs.
Rory Stewart, MP for Penrith and The Border and Minister of State for International Development, who attended the opening said:
"It is a huge honour to be opening Innovia's state-of-the-art facility which is fundamental to the production of the UK's new polymer notes. This is a historic event, a real milestone in the company's history, and it is happening right here in the historic market town of Wigton - historic, of course, for many reasons, but now also for being the home to one of the most globally advanced polymer technologies in existence.”
Innovia has manufactured approximately 50 billion banknotes for central banks around the world, which represents more than 99 percent of all the polymer banknotes ever circulated. This new facility in Wigton will also be central to Innovia’s plans to manufacture Guardian polymer banknote substrate for global export.