Published : 1st February 2010

RIGID ASTON IS NEW

Richard Coward, Managing Director of UK based Rigid Containers Ltd and Tony Page, Managing Director of Aston Corrugated Ltd (formally Corrupad UK Ltd), confirm that the two companies have formed a joint venture, called Rigid Aston. The new company, which will come into effect on 1st January 2010, will supply single face corrugated reels and sheets to the trade. The owners of the new company have both stated that they will work in harmony to grow the business accordingly.

Following the closure of the Rigid Paper mill in Selby, Rigid had been looking to relocate its Charta business unit to Desborough. However, upon thorough investigation, the Management team were concerned that with the growth of its traditional corrugated business in the UK, that there might not be enough space at the site. “Geographically, this is an excellent move for both companies,” comments Mr Coward. “It is very convenient for the customer base in the Midlands and the south, and for customers in the north of England, we will be operating a distribution point from a location close to our state-of-the-art Selby board plant, for a ‘best in class’ service.”

Mr Page continues, “While Aston will continue to independently manufacture and sell Corrupad and several other product lines, the joining of the Rigid and Aston operations in Birmingham will allow us to merge our manufacturing resources to create one efficient unit in the Midlands. We believe that the combination of our production capacity and Rigid’s strong reputation in the market will be of real benefit to customers in this ever changing market place.”

Day to day running of Rigid Aston at the facility in Birmingham will be headed by Chris Page; the Sales office, which will be located at Rigid’s Selby facility, is to be headed by Charta’s Sharon Foster. Charta’s equipment is set to be moved to the Aston site over the Christmas break, ready for start-up in the New Year.

Rigid Containers Ltd – a leading UK manufacturer of corrugated cases – is part of the Belgian integrated group, VPK. Rigid currently operates two strategically located, state-of-the-art manufacturing, warehousing and logistics facilities in the UK. These are based in Desborough and Selby. Parent company VPK Packaging is one of Europe’s fastest-growing independent manufacturers of recycled papers and corrugated cases and, apart from Rigid, also operates plants in Belgium, Holland, France, Poland and Romania.

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