Walsall family business celebrates 25th year
A Black Country family business which has grown to now employ 50 people after launching from a garden shed is marking its 25th anniversary.
Walsall-based allpack Packaging is now on the verge of seeing its annual turnover break the £20 million milestone for the first time.
It was launched by founder Jim Clarke from the back office of his accountancy practice in Chester Road, Sutton Coldfield.
As the business grew, it increased its storage potential first by building a wooden outhouse in the garden at Jim’s home – and then renting around 14 lock-up garages.
After outgrowing its headquarters four times since then, it is now based at Middlemore Lane West, Aldridge, where warehouse capacity now tops 50,000 sq ft.
With more than 5,000 lines of different packaging products, it now supplies customers every year with more than 10,000 tonnes of film, 600 sq m of tape, and 100,000 kilometres of strapping – enough to go around the world two-and-a-half times.
Among the household names that feature on its growing portfolio of blue chip clients are Dunelm, Travis Perkins, Wickes, Mazda and Volvo.
“Thanks to the support of or clients, and the hard work and home-grown Midlands skills of our team, the company has flourished to be a very different one to its early days,” said Jim.
“I pinch myself when I think back to when we started our family firm back in 1994, when it was run just by myself and my daughter as secretary and bookkeeper.
“A quarter of a century on, we are proud to be still meeting the needs of our inaugural set of clients – a long-standing partnership that fills me with great pride.”
As it enters its silver jubilee year, allpack Packaging now employs 50 people at its new headquarters, which was recently upgraded and now includes a product innovation hub.
“Crucially, that personal touch and great customer service that was born out of my early morning drives towing a trailer, still exists at the heart of allpack in 2019,” Jim added.
“The current scale of the operation demonstrates just how far we have travelled as a company, and we are already looking at ways of moving to bigger premises to keep pace with ever-increasing demand.
“None of this would have been possible without the loyalty of all our customers and we thank them all for their support and look forward to helping them to continue growing their businesses in the future.”
