Peterborough Manufacturer Enters Luxury Packaging Market

A Peterborough-based manufacturer is aiming to make luxury labelling more accessible to SMEs across a range of sectors following a major investment in new equipment.

AA Labels has invested £400,000 in new machinery to expand its services with embossing, hot foil, screen printing and spot UV varnish finishing options.

It will enable greater access to the embellishment packaging market for businesses in the health and beauty, food and beverage, and fragrance industries that want to develop high-end products.

A study from luxury brand association, Walpole, valued the British luxury sector’s annual contribution to the economy at £48 billion – up 49% in the five-year period from 2013 – 2018 – and forecasts its value at £65 billion by 2024.

It will also allow AA Labels to benefit from increasing demand for prestigious packaging.

Research from Neil Farmer Associates has identified an annual growth rate of 5% in the global luxury packaging market and estimates an annual worth of £15.7 billion by 2022.

Additionally, the embossing and screen-printing services will enable the company to help brands make their labelling more accessible for visually impaired consumers through braille.

Sohail Sethi, Managing Director and joint-owner of AA Labels, comments: “We have identified a growth in demand for label embellishments, but our main aim is to introduce new audiences to the creative possibilities of labelling.

“Brands need to convey the prestige of their products through the packaging and these techniques help us to add a luxurious and eye-catching finishing touch.

“We want to demystify the process so brands of all sizes, including those with limited budgets, can create high quality labels that appeal to the consumer.

“Our business has been growing at 20% each year for the past five years and we have gained a huge number of new customers from market sectors requiring the kind of quality embellished labels that we will soon be producing

“Therefore, we have confidence in the investment, which we expect to pay for itself within only a few years.”

Uffe Nielsen, CEO at Grafisk Maskinfabrik, comments: “The 330FB Premium Wine Label Line offers state-of-the-art performance and quality for hot foil and screen printing embellishments.

“This innovative unit will add refined details of gold, silver or even holograms to the labels. With the perfect register, 50 tons of pressure and high production speed in foiling, the 330FB will make AA Labels competitive in the high-end label market.”

The GM 330FB, GM DC350 and GM PNT160S machines – two roll label converter presses and automatic core cutting machine – have been purchased from Grafisk Maskinfabrik in Denmark.

AA Labels has acquired an additional 340 square metres of production floor space to accommodate the new equipment.

It takes AA Labels’ total investment in new printers to over £1 million in the last 12 months.

The high-speed output offered by the machines will increase production capacity in-line with growing demand and its ability to respond quickly to customer requirements.

The GM PNT160S is a semi-automatic core cutting machine providing high precision feeding and cutting of cardboard roll-cores at high speeds.

AA Labels, based near Orton Longueville in Peterborough, specialises in designing, producing and printing labels for every major market and industry sector. Established in 2006, the business manufactures and distributes plain and printed labels in a range of materials, adhesives and finishes for commercial, industrial, specialist and home use throughout Europe and further afield with customers in Canada, Argentina, America, Australia and Hong Kong.