NEWS AND VIEWS

THE MONTH THAT WAS

Premier team reaches new heights

Six of Premier’s staff took to the mountains in April to complete the first in a series of outdoor challenges.

Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) is the highest mountain in Wales, standing at 1,085 metres (3,560 feet). At 5am on Saturday 30 April Dean Tustin, Lee Woodford, Kirk Stevens, Cedric Picardo, Andy Whiteside and John Vickers set off from Premier’s head office in Minworth in the West Midlands to climb to the summit of Snowdon – in the process raising awareness for the Young Explorers campaign.

“It all started on our lunch break,” said Dean. “We’d been going out for a walk every lunchtime and decided that we wanted to challenge ourselves a bit more. For many of us, climbing Snowdon had always been an ambition.”

The group – aged from 30 to 57 – took the opportunity to raise awareness of Premier’s Young Explorer promotion. The campaign is aimed at helping The Outdoor Guide Foundation’s ‘Waterproof and Wellies’ project for primary school children; its objective is to see children from all backgrounds getting outside and enjoying the natural wonders that are all around them, enabling them to learn about, and enjoy, the great outdoors.

ExaClair expands sales team

ExaClair Ltd has expanded its sales team, with Glenn Bowen taking on a new national account manager role within ExaClair, the UK subsidiary of the Exacompta Clairefontaine group.

Already a well-known and respected professional throughout the stationery industry, Glenn brings a wealth of experience with him, which includes more than 11 years at Pukka Pads.

“Over the past couple of years we’ve been making good progress in growing our presence across new customers beyond the more traditional specialist stationery retailers and wholesalers. We’re delighted to welcome Glenn, who will continue to drive our brands further into the market,” said ExaClair MD, Mark Daisley.

Brother UK in IIP Platinum first

Brother UK has become the first business in the UK to retain the Investors in People Platinum status three times in a row, recognising the business’s longstanding focus on effectively leading, growing and supporting its employees.

The Platinum Award is viewed as the highest recognition a firm can achieve in people management in the UK; just 2% of businesses meet the rigorous standard.

Brother UK employs 150 people at its headquarters in Tameside, Greater Manchester, where employees stay for an average of 14 years – an industry-leading figure.

“Achieving the Platinum Award accolade three times in a row is a huge achievement for us, and this one is particularly special,” said Sam Johnson, learning and organisational development manager at Brother UK. “Like every other business, we had to adapt how we support our people quickly through the pandemic, and this award is meaningful as it comes at a time when we faced some of our greatest challenges both as people and as an organisation.”

Avery and ID&C consolidate commercial teams

Avery UK Group has announced organisational changes in its Avery and ID&C companies. The business has consolidated its commercial teams and appointed experienced lead Kristine Humphreys as commercial director.

Since joining the company in 2020, Kristine has led the marketing function at Avery UK. She has been promoted to lead Avery UK’s commercial function across marketing, digital, sales and customer service.

Kristine is supported by a new head of sales for Avery UK, Shaun Tidman. Having worked at Avery UK since 2019, Shaun has made great strides in promoting, and successfully implementing, structure and strategy for Avery PCL, which offers solutions for professional printers and paper merchants.

At Avery’s sister company ID&C, similar structural changes have been put in place, including the promotion of Mark Alderman to business unit manager. Mark joined ID&C in 2021 and has played an integral role in promoting the business to new and existing customers, supporting events and conferences, including G7.

GBL amendment revoked

The government has announced that it has agreed to revoke the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) (England, Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2021. This means that organisations in the print supply chain will not require a licence for substances containing GBL from 15 June, when the 2021 Regulations were otherwise due to come into force. The changes are designed to prevent the sale of bogus industrial products for illicit use; without them, GBL and BDO would have been reclassified as Class B drugs. The decision followed extensive representation to the Home Office carried out by the Graphics and Print Media Alliance, of which the BOSS Federation is a member, together with the wider chemicals supply chain – notably, the Chemicals Business Association and the Alliance of Chemical Associations.

The Home Office now plans to conduct a public consultation on how to move forward on how to introduce a licensing requirement that has exemptions for print and other industries which legitimately use GBL.

Beaverswood® launches the racksack® mini

The racksack® is the innovative waste recycling system from Beaverswood®, making it easy to manage waste disposal and recycling in the warehouse by hanging the extremely durable waste sack onto the end of racking systems.

The racksack® mini extends the system for use in offices; for workbenches, packing benches, desks and it can also be fixed to walls and other fittings around the workplace.

For more information, visit www.beaverswood.co.uk

Stebul appoint new director

Stebul have welcomed Martin Squibb to the company as group sales director and part owner; Martin is a well-known name within the furniture trade.

For the past 20 years at the TC Group, Martin has been an invaluable source of support and advice to the dealer trade. He has extensive knowledge of the industry and contacts with the major players in the manufacture of furniture, here and internationally. As a result, he will be a significant force in driving the continuing success of the interiors wing of Stebul.

Stebul already has an extensive portfolio of products and, coupled with their manufacturing and fabrication capabilities to produce bespoke products, they have been a go-to source in the UK for trade dealers and the leisure and education sectors since 1997.