bpi.agri spends £10 million on factory
bpi.agri, the British-based, world leading manufacturer of silage balewrap and clamp sheets, has spent £10 million enhancing its Leominster factory. The move will significantly increase the manufacturer’s production capacity for products like Silotite®, Visqueen Poliwrap® and Polybale® . It will also enable the business to produce a whole new range of next generation agricultural films.
Speaking of the investment at the Herefordshire site, John Lancaster, Commercial Director at bpi.agri, said: “The investment into our Leominster plant is great news for bpi.agri - and for the wider agricultural industry. Not only will it ensure we can meet soaring demand for our existing range, but it will also augment our ability to produce new high performance products, which offer the same or greater performance from a thinner profile.
“These downgauged products ultimately mean less film by volume is used to wrap a bale and that less waste needs disposing of after those bales are unwrapped. Further benefits include more film – and the ability to wrap more bales – with every reel ensuring greater value for money as well as improvements in efficiency because fewer reel changes are required.”
Recongising that opportunities to make such wholesale investments into its business don’t happen often, bpi.agri dedicated considerable time, effort and energy into ‘getting it right’. Some two years were spent identifying production plant that would be state-of-the-art, now and for some time to come, thereby delivering an element of future proofing.
A further 14 months were required to build, install and customise the new machinery to exacting, custom specifications. These bespoke adjustments were insisted upon by bpi.agri because of its unique understanding of what farmers expect from a high-performance balewrap - something it has acquired over more than two decades of serving the industry.
In keeping with its accreditation under ISO 14001 environmental management standards, the manufacturer was equally keen for the new plant to boast impressive green credentials. As such, the technology specified is extremely energy efficient and also allows any scrap created during the production process to be recycled.
In addition and to accommodate the new machinery, which is now fully operational and working around the clock, a new building had to be constucted. This has increased the overall footprint of the manufacturer’s Leominster factory by 2000m2.
Summing up, John Lancaster, adds: “bpi.agri has always had a strong commitment to innovation. It’s this commitment which has seen us continually introduce new products and services, such as the world’s first multi-layer balewrap or more recently, balewrapping clinics and balewrapping DVDs. The investment at Leominster is just the latest example of this – albeit on a new and unprecendented scale.”
DATE: 28/02/2009
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