Linpac to make £1.2m machinery investment at St Helens site

Linpac is set to make a £1.2million investment in new machinery and upgrades in order to produce a further 200 million expanded polystyrene (EPS) trays annually at its manufacturing site in St Helens in the North West of England.

The investment will see existing extruders and thermoformers upgraded to further enhance the quality, environmental benefits and cost effectiveness of its packaging.

“This major investment demonstrates our commitment to the foodservice market here and overseas,” explained Mick Wood, Linpac UK’s Operations Manager.

“We are working towards a major upgrade to our manufacturing capabilities. This will ensure that we can offer our customers both market leading quality and increased capacity to service their needs.  This will give us an increased competitive edge in an important market for Linpac.”

Once the upgrading of machinery is complete, Linpac St Helens will have four extrusion lines and 10 thermoformers in operation, supported by three reclaim units.

Conventional heating systems are in the process of being upgraded to infrared systems via the addition of new Ceramicx ovens on the site’s thermoformers.

This is expected to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the Linpac EPS product range, due to the company achieving a 40 percent reduction in average energy consumption. 

Linpac says the investment is the largest to be made in the UK this year and will create an additional 20 roles at the site.