Serving the Teesside Business Community | 73
First Choice Labels managing director Nigel Willis with his team
at their Kirkleathem Business Park premises in Redcar.
STAMP
OF APPROVAL
Picture by Doug Moody
By Joanne Barrett
Y
ou can’t go through your daily life
without coming across a label or two
somewhere along the line.
From the car you drive to the food you
put in your trolley at the supermarket to the
bottle of wine you crack open at the end of
the day – they’re all marked up in some way
or another.
It might be safety or energy information,
ingredients lists, pharmaceutical ingredients
or dosage instructions. Or just something
as simple as a straightforward name or
postage label.
There are literally thousands of them –
and chances are, the one you are looking at,
at any given time, has been made right here
on Teesside.
At First Choice Labels on the Kirkleatham
Business Park in Redcar to be exact.
The company boasts an impressive list
of clients from the NHS to the Ministry
of Defence as well as the likes of the
aerospace and automotive industries and
the country’s major national supermarket
chains.
Last year it manufactured a staggering
400 million labels and 2019 looks set to be
another busy one.
First Choice, led by managing director
Nigel Willis, is expanding and increasing
both in terms of its manufacturing capability
and its team.
May 2019 was the busiest month the
company has ever seen with production
Redcar firm is First Choice for
400 million labels a year!
teams running 24 hours as the expansion of
its factory began.
“We are made in Redcar but our labels go
out all over the world,” explains Nigel.
“We have a five-year goal here in which
we aim to expand the team to 40 and
double our turnover. We’ve recently started
the physical expansion of our base in
Kirkleatham to accommodate the growing
business.
“We had 9,000 square feet of space
before starting the work, now we have
14,000 square feet on the factory floor. It
essentially means we have created more
room to allow us to purchase more presses
and along with new presses comes new
staff.”
The team currently numbers 22 and the
plans are to increase it to 27 by the end of
the year.
“May saw our busiest month yet, output
was up between 20 and 30% and we hope
to continue in the same vein.”
Self-adhesive labels are manufactured on
the company’s eight label presses – from
plain to up to eight colours.
First Choice upholds high standards
and is proud to hold both ISO9001:2015
and BRC/IoP accreditations as well as the
pharmaceutical standard PS:9001. The team
takes a great pride in its work from start to
finish.
“We have 100% control over the work
we produce, our factory is purpose built and
our location means we have great transport
links,” says Nigel.
“We place a lot of emphasis on quality
control and take a real pride in what we do.
“All of those things are what makes us
unique.
“We have new clients and lots of
returning clients. You’ve probably come
across a label that has been produced right
here in your daily life.”
Its output isn’t the only thing that makes
First Choice Labels stand out.
MD Nigel is a patron of the Teesside
Philanthropic Foundation and has built in to
the company an ethos of supporting and
giving back to the local community.
It might be something like providing
kits for a Redcar school or backing a local
football team or supporting a club or
initiative through the Foundation.
“As a company we strongly believe in
giving others a helping hand,” adds Nigel.
“Being able to help people in our area is
so important to us.”
Find out more about First Choice Labels
and their services at firstchoicelabels.co.uk