Following its £20 million investment in a global packaging production and development centre in Deeside, North Wales, Excelsior Technologies has won the "Investment Project of the Year Award" at the 2010 UK Packaging Awards held on Wednesday 3 November.

One judge described Excelsior’s UK investment as “a very brave project” coming at a time of UK economic uncertainty and unprecedented competition from packaging producers across the globe. But Excelsior Managing Director David Moorcroft said, “We are absolutely delighted to win this award. We have always had faith in the outstanding technical and customer service skills we have nurtured in the UK over many years. But when we added the best manufacturing and printing technologies that money can buy we knew we could match and better any competition from anywhere in the world.”

Excelsior sold more than a billion packs last year but the company’s investment has been further rewarded with significant new business wins with sales soaring by more than 25% in flexible film, packs and pouches in the nine months since the new investment.

The new site in Flintshire has benefited from the installation and commissioning of new in-line packaging production machines including the latest multi-colour, high-speed, wide-web rotogravure and flexo printing machines. The company has also built a dedicated research, design, development and prototyping facility to enable it to maintain its lead in flexible packs and pouches including its world-beating technologies in microwaveable steam packs for frozen foods, ready meals and fresh produce. It also operates a state-of-the-art, vertically-integrated, film extrusion facility in Nelson, Lancashire, which provides a continuous quality-controlled source of film feedstock for its new Deeside production base.

Excelsior is not new to awards. The company has twice won the Queens Award for Export as well as a number of Starpack Awards for its high-tech approach to flexible packaging design tailored to customers’ needs. The company exports 60% of its output to more than 14 countries including the USA, Europe and the Far East.

Click the logo to go to the UK Packaging Awards web site