Marsden Packaging Attain AA+ Grade in BRCGS Audit

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Marsden Packaging are proud to announce that we have attained an AA+ grade in the British Retail Consortium Global Standards (BRCGS) audit. The AA+ grade was awarded for our outstanding performance in an unannounced audit conducted in January 2023.

The BRCGS audit is the gold standard for food audits in the packing industry, and we undergo this rigorous assessment every year. Last year, new rules were introduced that required one in every three annual audits to be unannounced. This means that at any time during a four-month window, auditors can turn up and conduct their audit without prior notice.

We were advised in 2022 that we would have an unannounced audit, with the window open from the middle of October to the middle of February. The audit was conducted on 30th and 31st January, and we are pleased to have retained our AA grade, which has now become an AA+ to denote that it was unannounced.

“We are thrilled to have achieved an AA+ grade in our recent BRCGS audit,” said Michael Briggs, Managing Director of our company. “This result is a testament to our commitment to providing the highest standards of quality and safety in the packing industry. Our team has worked tirelessly to ensure that our processes and procedures meet and exceed the requirements of the BRCGS audit, and we are proud to have achieved this outstanding result.”

Our attainment of the AA+ grade demonstrates our ongoing commitment to food safety and quality. The Marsden Packaging focus on continuous improvement and adherence to strict industry standards has enabled us to provide our customers with the highest levels of service and quality.

How Nulogy Software has helped Marsden Packaging

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A little while back Marsden Packaging sourced and implemented software from industry leading software supplier Nulogy to replace our manual paper systems which were limiting operational efficiency. The end result has been that we’ve been 50% more efficient at quality checks and we’re able to offer industry leading levels of quality and service.

In a business like ours, quality checking is paramount, and we need to run essential quality checks every 30 minutes, not to mention the track and trace processes run for food audits. Nulogy software enabled us to move from great (but time-consuming) quality checks to a situation where it is impossible for us to bring the wrong product to the wrong production line.

This has made Marsden Packaging more agile and resilient and has helped us increase customer satisfaction. If you’d like to read a little more about how we’ve implemented Nulogy, and the great effects it’s had on our business, you can view the Nulogy case study here >

Whilst you’re there, please watch the video of Marsden Packaging’s Managing Director Michael Briggs explain the benefits that Nulogy software has brought to the business.

Sustainability, Renewable energy & Reducing our carbon footprint

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Making the packaging industry a more sustainable affair

Marsden Packaging are firmly committed to reducing our environmental impact as a business. In the age of carbon footprints and renewable energy sources, we felt it time for us to take control of our sustainability and the effect that our business has on the environment. We are making concerted efforts in 2019, rolling out various initiatives to reduce the amount of power we consume as well as our carbon footprint.

Small steps to making a big difference

We began our green agenda by looking into the source of our energy. We have little to no choice in our consumption of electricity generally, but we do have a choice in deciding where that energy comes from. So after reaching out to our energy supplier, we arranged to draw all of our electricity from renewable sources, for which we have a certificate.

Replacing our factory equipment

The next step was to look to the equipment in use in our factory. What could we replace with more efficient equivalents? We began with our heating system, removing two dated gas-fired heaters and replaced them with modern equivalents. This reduced our gas consumption by 25% whilst reducing our CO2 output by the same amount.

Following on from updating our heating, we looked to our compressed air system. Compressed air plays a vital role in many of the different types of packaging that we carry out on a daily basis, whilst our original system worked it also required permanent power whether actually in use or not. Our new compressor works on demand and as a result, our daily power consumption dropped by a mammoth 60%!

Our latest initiative has been converting our lighting system to be far more efficient, the entire warehouse is now running on LED lighting, whilst areas not in regular use have motion-activated sensors installed to prevent unnecessary usage. Throughout the remainder of 2019 we intend to update the factory lighting as well as the warehouse LED lighting as well.

Looking to the future

Here at Marsden Packaging, we take our commitments to sustainability seriously and intend to keep our business running as green as possible for years to come. If you have any questions regarding our green agenda, please do not hesitate to get in touch with one of our team.

Marsden Packaging – Packing their way to success in 2019

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2019 has been a busy year so far for the team here at Marsden Packaging, with a record number of packaging products being successfully completed at Valentine’s Day and at Easter, but our work truly began before the end of 2018, for the busy Christmas period.

Production for the festive season began back in June of 2018, where our fantastic employees utilised our state-of-the-art machinery to start the production of 3 million Christmas products. Despite this mammoth task, we’re very happy to report that all of our customers requirements for Christmas 2018 were completed In Full and On Time.

As we moved in to 2019, we prepared for two more busy periods on the packaging calendar, Valentine’s Day and Easter. This year saw us complete 600,000 products for Valentine’s and 3.5 million Easter Eggs, both are milestones for the company and achievements which we’re extremely proud of!

Across Christmas, Valentine’s and Easter, our packaging projects have made their way into the shops and stores of some of the biggest names in retail: Debenhams, Primark, Next, Lidl, Harrods, Typhoo & Taylors of Harrogate – to name a handful.

Yes, we’ve certainly had a fantastically busy year so far and we’re very grateful for all of the business our wonderful clients have brought us. Here’s to the rest of the year!

BRC AA Certified Success for Marsden Packaging

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Following their 2019 BRC annual audit it is with a great deal of pride that Marsden Packaging are delighted to report that they have once again been awarded AA grade. This is another great achievement from the Marsden Quality Team which is headed up by their Operations Manager Jackie Chapman. This top marks result reinforces the proficiency of the team which embraces the use of cutting edge software and IT to ensure that Quality Control and service levels remain at the highest level.

The receipt of this award follows a successful 2018 for the company during which significant investment was made in a number of new pieces of machinery enabling the company to better serve its growing list of customers. 2019 is looking as though it will be an exciting year for the team with various new projects and opportunities just around the corner.

Marsden Packaging: Another AA BRC Grade for 2018

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Double A’s For Marsden Packaging Once Again

February marks the return of the much anticipated British Retail Consortiums (BRC) annual audit, and as we move into Spring, the results are released to those involved. Marsden Packaging have been privileged enough to have been awarded full marks since 2010, and we are elated to report that 2018 is no different. Achieving the coveted AA grade for yet another year serves as welcome recognition for the hard work that everyone at Marsden Packaging puts in to make our company an industry leader.

The BRC certification and grading system is a globally recognised award, which is now used in over 120 countries worldwide across 22,000 suppliers to the food industry – to consistently receive the highest grade possible really does illustrate Marsden Packaging’s committed approach to providing the best in packaging quality assurance.

In addition to achieving the double A award, we have just completed one of Marsden Packaging’s busiest Valentine’s/Easter periods ever – producing in excess of 500,000 Valentine’s Day products and 3.7 million Easter Eggs. All delivered to their respective customers on schedule and in full. To be awarded AA this month, whilst working through such a busy time is something we are immensely proud of and equally delighted about.

Christmas at Marsden Packaging is all wrapped up!

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Christmas 2017 started early for the team at Marsden Packaging. It began back in June when we began the production process for just short of two million individual items for a broad range of customers and High Street retailers.

Amongst the products we have had the pleasure of packing this season, Advent calendars have been a key trend and featured strongly with retailers this year. We’ve been trusted with the production of close to 200,000 Advent calendars for this holiday season, a fact that we’re very proud of!

We are delighted that we have been able to meet all of our customers’ requirements “In Full and On Time” throughout the season.

We feel very accomplished now that the busy Christmas period is completed, but we now move straight into Valentine’s Day and the Easter production!

Packstar Quality Excellence Award Video

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Find out how we’ve improved quality control processes, customer service and profitability by leveraging QCloud and PackManager, going on to win the Packstar Quality Excellence Award this year (2017).

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Marsden Packaging Wins International Award in Chicago

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Marsden Packaging are delighted to announce that we’ve been awarded the highly coveted Packstar Quality Excellence Award by software suppliers Nulogy. The international award recognises the company who has best leveraged Nulogy solutions to deliver a high quality of service, earning the position of most trusted supplier to their customers.

We saw off global competition for the title, which considers the use of Nulogy resources relating to the quality and safety of packed goods and the attention to detail in the level of service which clients receive.

Nulogy noted the reputation we’ve built for delivering a very high quality of service to our customers and our continued efforts to leverage our innovative use of technology to help drive an even higher standard. In particular that we were able to exceed the expectations of one of our major global food brand customers, Weetabix Food Co, being the first to comply with new data-upload requirements in its SAP system.

One factor contributing to the award was the use of technologies to improve product traceability, production efficiency and achieving business growth. The use of Nulogy’s QCloud has led to a 50 percent reduction in time spent on quality checks and data preparation allowing the sharing of metrics with customers much more quickly and this was a decisive contributor to the award win.

The award was given at a ceremony in Chicago, Illinois, on May 8th and follows the award of the highest rating from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) certification last month.

“Between our AA certification from the BRC and now a prestigious international award it’s been a really terrific few weeks for us at Marsden Packaging” said owner Michael Briggs, “my congratulations go to all of our team here in Blackburn.”

“Nulogy is privileged to work with some of the most innovative and forward-thinking supply chain leaders, who are able to leverage our solutions to drive an even higher standard of order execution.” said Nulogy CEO Jason Tham. “It is my honor to recognize Marsden Packaging with the ‘Quality Excellence’ award for their outstanding achievements in quality control over the past year.”

We’ve also received praise from our clients, with Weetabix Co-Manufacturing Supplier Manager Sarah Rice-Smith noting “given the challenge to comply with our new data input requirements in 3 months, we were very impressed to see that Marsden Packaging was our first supplier to meet our requirements and amazingly did so in 1 week. Very well done”!

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Here’s the full length version of the video above: find out how we’ve improved quality control processes, customer service and profitability by leveraging QCloud and PackManager.

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Marsden Packaging awarded highest grade again by BRC

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We’re delighted to announce that following our evaluation in February, Marsden Packaging has again been awarded an AA grade in the annual British Retail Consortium (BRC) audit. This much sought after grade is the highest which can be awarded by the Consortium.

The BRC is the leading trade association for UK retailing. With BRC certification now being used by over 22,000 suppliers to the food industry across more than 120 countries internationally it is also globally recognised and respected certification.

The Certificate of Conformity takes into account a variety of factors relating to the safety and quality of stored foods in determining the grade awarded, with Marsden scoring very well across the board. Four areas of services were evaluated for the grade, Bakery, Dried Foods and Ingredients, Confectionery and Breakfast Cereals and Snacks.

“Consistently achieving the highest BRC grade demonstrates Marsden Packaging’s continued commitment to offering their customers the very highest levels of Quality Assurance.” commented Marsden Packaging’s owner Michael Briggs. “We’re very proud of the performance of our products and of the standard of service which our clients receive, so we’re delighted to have this validated by an esteemed and established body in the form of the BRC. It’s a credit to the hard work of all of our team in Blackburn”.

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