High-profile sales and design appointments point Lesters towards £25m turnover target

Lesters, which has seen revenues grow 120 per cent over the last 12 months, has recruited industry experts Mark Furman and Greg Burton as head of sales and design manager respectively.

The former has more than 33 years’ experience working in the industrial corrugated marketplace for blue-chip companies and is bringing his knowledge, processes and experience to support the Burntwood firm’s desire to hit £25m by 2025.

He will also be tasked with aligning state-of-the-art design and manufacturing capabilities with the group’s in-house warehousing and logistics operations, providing a seamless solution for clients in the aerospace, automotive, bike manufacturing, mail order and third-party logistics space.

Mark, who started his career as a junior designer, commented: “This is a very exciting time to be joining Lesters, with a £7m investment drive in the latest technology and a focus on providing sustainable packaging solutions proving extremely popular with customers.

“I’ll be looking to add my corporate sales experience into the mix, implementing more processes and the strategic targeting of new markets alongside the agility, creativity and innovation that is seeing us transform a sector that has been weighed down in tradition for too long.”

He went on to add: “Supply chain challenges are a big talking point for our customers. Recent events and uncertainty have created a need for many UK businesses to increase their security of supply for the critical packaging lines they require.

“This is where we come into our own, providing security of supply aligned with the most sustainable solutions.

“Working alongside our customers, we create efficient and cost-effective bespoke packaging that saves time and money, not to mention reducing their carbon footprint in the process.”

It has been a whirlwind period for Lesters over the last two years, with fifteen staff taken on across production and in admin/support, whilst a second shift has been introduced to keep up with demand.

This has helped support the design and manufacture of a growing range of products, including octabins, pallet boxes, heavy duty packaging, bespoke die cut units, corrugated cartons and retail ready packaging.

The ‘large packaging’ specialist is also keen to innovate the materials it uses, as well as looking for new applications outside the world of packaging.

“Strengthening the design team was fundamental to achieving this objective and I’m really enjoying the freedom we have to challenge industry perceptions and develop new packaging solutions,” explained Greg Burton, who enjoys restoring classic Minis and building CNC machines in his spare time.

“There are some big questions out there currently. How do we make packaging lighter, greener and more versatile? How can we maximise the efficiency of the process by adding in a storage/logistics solution?

“Some of these we are finding answers for ourselves, others we are looking to collaborate with universities and R&D specialists to push the boundaries of what we can achieve with materials and applications.”

Billy Hutchinson, managing director of Lesters, concluded: “Attracting Greg and Mark to our team is a massive coup and sends out a strong message of where we are and where we intend going.

“We’re doing things differently in the packaging sector and clients are responding by moving their business to us. More investment, more innovation and more talent will only make the Lesters offer even stronger.”