GWP Group celebrates 25 years of business in style

With GWP Group reaching a major milestone on August 13th – recording 25 years in business – staff past and present got together at a family event to celebrate.

The celebrations were improved further as they came against the backdrop of 2015 being set to be most successful ever year for the company, with sales volumes significantly ahead of expectations.

To mark the landmark birthday, GWP employees, family and friends were invited to celebrate at a fun-filled day of games and activities.

Held at Purton House on 8th August, there was a wide range of activities to keep guests of all ages entertained. With a bouncy castle, hook a duck, coconut shy, face painting and treasure hunt to keep the kids happy, there was also sumo wrestling, a rodeo bull, archery and various games for the older guests to enjoy.

Besides this, there was packed programme of events and shows to watch. This included “Duck Herding”, a Falconry display, a street performance and circus tricks, before GWP employees faced off in an epic tug of war!

With a barbeque, ice creams, cakes and bar there was plenty for everyone to eat and drink, with a disco starting in the early evening and lasting into the early hours.

Of course, these celebrations were organised in order to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the company.

Now with operations in both Cricklade and Salisbury, the company was initially set up in 1990 by five directors, four of whom are still working at GWP today.

Growing steadily over the years, the business weathered two recessions but has seen strong performance, particularly over the last 24 months.

GWP now employ over 100 staff, have 500 plus customers and a turnover of approximately £10m.

Not only are we celebrating 25 years in business but we are reaching that milestone at a really strong time for the firm. I’m absolutely delighted that we are in this position. The other Directors and I would like to thank everyone who has been instrumental in our success, customers, staff and suppliers for helping to make us the strong business that we are today

Although sales performance has been steadily improving since 2012, when the beginnings of a recovery from the recession was first felt, sales have increased by over 10% in each of the last 2 years.

David Pedley, CEO of GWP group, said;

What is especially pleasing is that the growth is coming from all industries, right across the board. We are a great barometer of the state of the economy; as all manufactured products need to be safely transported to customers. We are pleased we have been able to help so many companies across the UK and beyond.

As well as the obvious uplift from an improving economy, great satisfaction has been taken from increasing market share across all of the industries the company operate in.

The company has been committed to strengthening existing partnerships with clients, as well as maintaining its public profile to showcase the company’s capabilities to new markets & applications.

This has seen GWP win a larger slice of the market, leading to increased optimism about further increasing market share over the coming years.

David Pedley added;

We wanted to make sure we were well known when things picked up. During the recessionary years we decided to invest in keeping our public profile high and the strategy has paid off, we now regularly appear on Radio and TV commentating on business and manufacturing matters and we know this has helped bring us to the attention of new audiences.

Another reason behind GWP’s success is the expansion and diversification of the company’s product range. From purely a manufacturer of corrugated cardboard packaging products 25 years ago, the business has grown into a five distinct divisions providing a spectrum of innovative and bespoke packaging products.

The company now supplies a vast range of industries, such as automotive, defence, FMCG, logistics and IT/electronics, with corrugated board products, Correx®, specialist coatings, engineered foam and bespoke protective cases.

Looking at new markets all the time, GWP are actively working on producing new ranges to solve packaging problems. This in turn leads to massive opportunities for growth arising from this diversification.

GWPs’ longevity and success has seen the company recognised with numerous awards and accolades over the years. This is in addition to the forging of close ties with local businesses, organisations, charities, schools and colleges.

Besides supporting the Swindon Foodbank, and working with students from Swindon & Cirencester Colleges, GWP products have been spotted on TV programmes, a bespoke case helped get an Olympian’s bike to the Games and the BBC has buried a case as a time capsule in GWP’s home county of Wiltshire.

But the job that GWP are perhaps most proud of is that Prince Harry and his Walking with the Wounded team used GWP supplied cases when they trekked to the South Pole.

Ian Larrard, Director of the Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative, part of Business West said,

I’d like to congratulate the directors and staff of GWP. It’s great news when any business achieves such a milestone but coupled with their strong performance this is a real achievement. It’s testament to the hard work and dedication of all those involved.

Back in the 1990s GWP were one of the first packaging firms to embrace inventory management and just in time deliveries and more recently they were instrumental in the setting up of the revolutionary corrugated sheet plant CorrBoard. It’s such forward-thinking and smart initiatives like these that have made GWP Group the strong business that it is today.

Despite the success of the last 25 years, GWP Group understand the need to keep moving forward. As such, the company have continually invested in new technology, equipment, and place a strong focus on innovation and packaging design expertise.

With exciting developments upcoming within the next 12 months and beyond, GWP Group are already looking forward to the next 25 years in business.