Towards the end of 2015 Board24 invested in excess of £7.5m in a new corrugator in Preston, Lancashire. The development of the site was in response to ever-increasing customer demand for Board24’s corrugated sheetboard, a desire to improve productivity and the drive to use resources more efficiently.Following extensive enabling works during 2015, the site was prepared ready for the installation of the new corrugator and has gone from strength to strength ever since, not only in terms of productivity, but also in employment as an additional 25 jobs have been created.

From the early beginnings on Corrugator 4, it was clear what the new corrugator was capable of producing. Within a short space of time the record lineal metres produced per shift had been smashed by 33%. The manner in which the record was broken was more remarkable for the relatively short space of time to achieve such a feat. The new corrugator is now averaging more than 25% more lineal metres per shift than before and doubling the site’s output of what it was just seven years ago.

Prior to the installation of the new BHS at Preston, Board24 had two corrugators at Coalville; a 2.5 metre and a 2.0 metre producing B, C, M and CB flutes; Preston had a 2.5 metre corrugator producing E, M, B, C, CB, EB and MB flutes. Coalville and Preston produced sheet for UK and Ireland distribution. Larkhall has two smaller deckle corrugators producing sheet for the Scottish and Irish markets.

Over time shift patterns have developed and increased to accommodate the upsurge in demand and output. The machine operators have successfully adapted with the changes in demand, moving their shift patterns to accommodate the capacity requirements on each of the machines. This has been achieved due to the flexibility of the workforce and their commitment to the future of Preston.

The extent to which Preston has not only fulfilled the ever-increasing customer demand for Board24’s sheetboard is evident from exceeding the total board sold in 2015 by Early November 2016. Another record broken!

Eric Marshall, Preston Operations Manager commented; “With the partnership of our owners and the flexibility and commitment of our workforce along with a new machine we will see further new records in the future”.