Latest News
Meet the Team – Ollie Barson
Ollie Barson is our business analyst at our Coalville site. He joined our team around 18 months ago.
As a business analyst, Ollie works with data and uses business systems to create and maintain reports to help the business make decisions about our future.
Before joining Board24, Ollie was temping as a payroll administrator at Everyone Active.
Preston customer services team smash fundraising target
Nicky Bulmer and Gemma Parr from our customer services team at Preston have smashed a fundraising target they set recently.
The pair took part in the annual 11 mile Walk in the Dark from Chorley Hospital to Royal Preston Hospital to raise money for charity that is dear to them; Rosemere Cancer Foundation.
Coalville site invests in new wastewater system
Our Coalville site has invested in a new wastewater system to effectively treat water utilised during our manufacturing process for our Cases24 operations.
Manufactured by JLJ Holdings based in Cheshire, it is a semi-automatic machine called the Euro FP and is capable of processing up to 15,000 litres of wastewater in approximately 6 hours.
Meet the Team – Jodie Boyce
Jodie Boyce has been with our Coalville team for two and a half years.
Having passed her apprenticeship with a Distinction in Level 3 Business Administration in 2023, Jodie is now a fully qualified Customer Services Administrator taking care of her own customers and their wide range of requirements.
A diverse role, which sees Jodie enjoy daily communication with her customers, dealing with their orders and offering advice. With no two days being the same, Jodie enjoys the job keeping her on her toes!
Eurocentral team passes first BRC audit with flying colours
Our Eurocentral team has passed its first BRC audit with flying colours achieving the standard of AA rating. The team at the new site, which opened its doors for business in February 2024, has worked incredibly hard to ensure all its procedures and policies were in place and that the site was running smoothly. Indeed, the visiting auditor, the same person as last year, gave very positive feedback citing the ‘positive motivation of colleagues’ and what a ‘fantastic opportunity’ Eurocentral is for the future of corrugated board production. “Achieving this grade is testament to the hard work of the team at Eurocentral and to achieve this after such a short space of time is a great accomplishment by everyone,” said Frank Hay, Group Managing Director, Board 24. “Having this accreditation gives assurance to our customers that we operate at the highest standards, and we are committed to achieving and maintain them.” BRCGS is a globally recognised accreditation body that evaluates company practices and procedures to ensure they are operating at the required standards across all elements of the business including health and safety and legal requirements. Customers benefit from knowing that products are manufactured consistently to the highest standards of quality and safety. Furthermore, the team constantly strive to be the best in its field bringing confidence to the supply chain and beyond. Frank concluded; “Eurocentral is still very new to our team with so many of them having worked at our previous Larkhall site for a lot of years. Production capacity is continuing to increase, and we are proud of our achievements to date.” BRCGS certification is used in over 130 countries across the globe and sets the benchmark for good manufacturing processes.
The A to Z of Board24
Just for fun… enjoy! A is for accountable; our third company value defined as ‘Accountability to each other and ourselves is fundamental’. B is for board, our first company valued defined as ‘to be brave and evolve beyond expectations.’ And of course, board, the material we manufacture every day! C is for corrugated, the material that all our operations are based around from raw material production to the manufacture of high-volume corrugated cases D is for (deckle) the width of the board, our fifth and final company value Driven defined as ‘our people are driven and dedicated to be market leading’ and also Dave, the name of casemaker 4! E is for the environment. We are proud to use FSC certified products and to also have chain of custody certification (FSC-C105503) F is for fluting, the wiggle part of our corrugated board. Lots of different flute types are available giving varying degrees of strength to the finished board grade. G is for glue. The one we use to bond our fluting with our liners is a corn-based starch adhesive. H is for Health and Wellbeing. As part of our We Make It Safe vision we are constantly supporting our colleagues with a variety of initiatives and information sharing. I is for investment which is continuous, and most recently took place at our new Eurocentral site in Scotland which opened in May 2024. J is for Join our Team. As a fast paced, ever changing, and growing business we’re always on the look out for talented professionals to join us. K is for Kraft. A type of paper that is made from longer fibres, giving a smoother finish for printing which is typically used for the outer liner of the board grades we manufacture. L is for our onsite lab testing facility which can analyse board, the performance characteristics of paper and box compression testing. M is for Make it possible. Our mission statement and the strapline of our parent company, Logson Group. N is for our New MD, Frank Hay, who joined the company in April 2024. O is for Our future, our second company value defined as ‘Our Future success relies on the strength of our people’ P is for paper, the raw material that we have delivered by the lorry load to manufacture our corrugated board Q is for quality products. Hugely important to us we’re constantly striving to be better and meet our customers’ expectations. R is for respect, our fourth company value defined as ‘everyone respects each other and their contributions’ S is for sheet. Whether it’s the process of manufacturing board (known as sheet feeding) the board itself (referred to as sheet) or our customers (known as sheet plants) we just had to give it a mention! T is for training our colleagues. In 2023, we delivered over 700 hours of leadership training, in addition to the technical, job related and mandatory health and safety training that is essential for our operatives to be able to do their roles. U is for UK manufacturing. We’re very proud to be part of the corrugated industry and the leading independent sheet feeder in the UK. V is for viscosity. Getting the ink consistency right when printing on different types of board when manufacturing our high-volume cases is hugely important. W is for waste. All of the waste from our manufacturing processes for both sheet board and cases is recycled helping to support the circular economy. X is for Xylography. The art of printing text or illustrations, sometimes with colour, from woodblocks which would have been a printing method used archaically in our industry. Y – is for why (Y) did our content team try and do the A-Z of Board24?! Think they are allowed a little artistic licence! Z is for the zealousness our team show helping them to do their best!
Team receives highly commended leading industry award
Our team at Coalville was delighted to receive a highly commended award for a health and safety initiative surrounding forklift truck activity at the site. Recognised at the leading industry Paper Gold Awards hosted by the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI), the project saw the Transmon driver assistance solution trialled on trucks around Casemaker 2 and 3 to aid truck and pedestrian segregation. This consisted of an FLT mounted unit and ‘tags’ that the casemaker operators have on their persons. Also fitted into the area was a module to create a muted zone so that operators working in a safe area, but within range of the FLT detection, did not cause false alarms. Due to its success, it is now being rolled out to other areas in our sites. Alex Morris, Managing Director Coalville site and Paul Elliott, Cases24 Manager represented Board24. They were joined by Dan Watts, Logson Group Health and Safety Manager and Daniel Johnston, Managing Director and Matt Herd, Commercial Director at Cardboard Box Company who had also been shortlisted at the awards event. Frank Hay, Group Managing Director, Board24 commented; “These awards are very prestigious in our industry, and we are very proud to have received a highly commended accolade for the project at our Coalville site. Well done to the team there for seeking an innovative health, safety and wellbeing initiative to ensure our colleagues are taken care of in all their daily activities.” The 2024 CPI Paper Gold Awards were hosted at the Stationer’s Hall in London. More details about the awards and a full list of winners can be found by visiting https://paper.org.uk/CPI/Content/News/Press-Releases/2024/Paper-Industry-Gold-Awards—2024-Winners.aspx
All about the board
5.3 bsm of corrugated board is made in the UK each year. An amazing statistic that shows what a huge industry we are part of. Of all the board made globally typically 60% is single wall, 30% double wall and the rest triple wall. (Source: BHS Corrugators) A hugely versatile packaging material that is often made from paper that has at least 80% recycled content, it’s becoming ever more popular as company’s look to move away from hard to recycle packaging materials and become more sustainable. But what is the process that our paper goes through to turn it into corrugated board? Here’s a quick overview of the key parts of the process. Paper types All board grades are made using a combination of sheets of paper, referred to as liners, that are glued together with adhesive to a corrugated inner, referred to as fluting. Two of the most common paper types, referred to in board grades are Kraft paper (chemically processed) which is typically is used for the outer liner of the board. This paper type is made from softwood and gives a smooth finish, ideal for printing. Test paper has a less smooth finish as it is made from hardwood or recycled paper which has shorter fibres. This is typically used for the inner liner or fluting. Our five corrugators process either three or five reels of paper simultaneously to produce either single wall (two liners and one fluting) or double wall (three liners and two fluting). The process Firstly, reels of paper are loaded into the ‘wet end’ of the corrugator. Initially, the paper is treated with heat and steam to make it more flexible to allow for easier fluting before being fed into the single facer. The single facer is the part of the corrugator that creates a series of arches (fluting) created by large rotating cylinders with a corrugated profile thereby creating the grooves. Different cylinders with different profiles create the different flute types. At the next stage, adhesive is applied to the tips of the flute, and the first liner is pressed onto the fluting. A combination of steam, heat and pressure adheres the paper to the fluting to create a strong bond. This single face board, the first stage of any corrugated board production process continues its journey down the corrugated where a second liner is applied using the same methods. Less pressure is applied at this stage, so the flutes are not crushed. To manufacture double wall board, both corrugator’s single facers will be running which delivers two single face webs to the bridge part of the corrugator to be joined together at the double glue unit. It is at this stage that the outside or double-faced liner will be joined to the single face web. Finally, the board is cut to size both the width (deckle) and length (chop). The required sheet sizes are then palletised and ticketed for onward shipping to our sheet plant customers. Strength and durability Through the innovative use of different flutings, varying degrees of strength are achieved which gives corrugated its strength when used by our sheet plant customers to manufacture corrugated boxes and packaging solutions. Different board grades are achieved by putting different paper weights and grammage through the corrugation process. Our corrugators are all capable of making a wide range of board grades, utilising differing paper types, and fluting to meet customer requirements. Frank Hay, Group Managing Director, Board24 commented; “The process of manufacturing corrugated board is quite fascinating, and this article has given a very simplistic view of a rather complex process. “The introduction of our latest corrugator at Eurocentral in Scotland has seen our capacity increase significantly. It can produce more than 100 million metres squared per annum and can manufacture a wide range of flute types including B, C, M, E, BC, MB, and EB, perfectly complementing our other corrugators.”
Meet the Team – Frank Hay
Frank Hay has joined Board24 as Group Managing Director just a few weeks ago. All three Board24 sites are within his remit; Coalville, Preston and Eurocentral. He was instrumental in delivering the Eurocentral project, which opened in February 2024, as part of his previous role as Group Technical Director. After graduating from the University of Strathclyde and the University of Cambridge with degrees in Engineering, Frank joined the packaging industry and began to develop his career. He has worked in a number of roles including shift management, operations/commercial management, site management and ultimately held the position of Head of Engineering, looking after significant investments and projects, before he joined Logson Group in 2022. Speaking of his new role at Board24 Frank said, “I am very pleased to have joined the Board24 team and to have the opportunity to make a difference at one of the key businesses in the Logson Group. “It’s been a pleasure getting to know our customers and colleagues, understanding how Board24 can support them both and improvements we can make to excel.” Away from work Frank enjoys spending time outdoors with his young family. When time allows it he sails, plays sports and enjoys travel. He has signed up to take part in a Tough Mudder challenge later this year with colleagues from Logson Group who are raising money for Cancer Research and Breast Cancer UK.
Business Administration Apprentices achieve distinction
Our Level 3 Business Administration Apprentices have both completed their courses and both passed with distinction. Jodie Boyce and Katie Doherty undertook the year long course that has equipped them with knowledge, skills and behaviours helping them to work independently and as part of a team, all whilst gaining a greater understanding of the business and their role within it. Jodie commented; “The course has helped me to learn a lot of information and I’ve really enjoyed applying that in my day-to-day tasks.” Katie added; “An apprenticeship is such a good way of learning and it’s really helped to consolidate my knowledge and understand the impact of what I’ve learnt on my job.” Jodie and Katie work within the customer service department. Based at Coalville, they assist with many aspects of customer service, predominantly supporting the Cases24 team, including order processing, customer enquiries and customer liaison with the businesses range of sheet plant customers which are based across the UK. Judith Chadwick, Head of HR, commented; “Apprenticeships are playing a very important part in the development of our team members, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to carry out their roles to a high standard. “Jodie and Katie have both worked very hard to complete their apprenticeships and to achieve such amazing results.”
