McLaren Packaging is investing £3m in the construction of a new facility in Stirling for its subsidiary Blue Box Design.
Work on the new 20,000ft2 facility started earlier this month and is being built for Blue Box Design, a manufacturer of presentation boxes for the UK food, drink and luxury sectors.
The new facility, which is scheduled to be completed in April 2018, is expected to create 18 new jobs over a four-year period.
Blue Box Design managing director Duncan Robertson said: “This new facility will greatly improve ‘speed to market’ for our customers by reducing the packaging development cycle time from concept to delivery, thereby delivering production efficiencies and cost savings.
“It will expand our production capacity significantly, enable us to retain highly skilled staff and create new skilled jobs in Central Scotland for young people through the creation of a design and new product development centre of excellence for the luxury packaging sector.
“We see tremendous long-term value in a facility centrally-located within Scotland, between Edinburgh and Glasgow, close to the major operations of the whisky and food industries.”
Additionally, the facility is ‘future-proofed, as it allows extension into two additional modules to eventually triple the floorspace.
McLaren Packaging managing director Donald McLaren said that the investment in Blue Box Design’s new-build unit is a part of its long-term commitment to the future of luxury rigid boxes within its product portfolio.
The new facility is expected to contribute to McLaren Packaging’s aim to increase turnover to £20m by 2020.
McLaren added: “We foresee significant growth in demand for luxury hand-finished boxes and this expansion will allow us to offer a comprehensive portfolio of high-end presentation boxes to the market.”
Image: Illustration new manufacturing, design and testing centre in Stirling, Scotland. Photo: courtesy of McLaren Packaging Ltd.