Welcome to the last edition of Viscose Voice for 2024!
Apologise we haven’t brought you a new edition of Viscose Voice for a while. We have missed sharing all the exciting things we’ve been doing. This month we focus on some of our 2024 highlights and look ahead to 2025!
Viscose 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar
It’s that time of year again…
As part of this year’s festivities, we are doing a 12 days of Christmas Giveaway on our website. Some of the prizes included as part of the giveaway include, a chance of winning a luxury Christmas hamper, gaining access to exclusive discount codes, a chance of winning a luxury Christmas Pudding and lots more!
There is still time to partake, all you need to do is subscribe to the giveaway on our website!
We’d like to give a big thank you to some of our wonderful customers who donated towards our hampers and provided discount codes for their products as prizes:
- Radnor Hills
- HG&CO Ltd
- The Treat Kitchen
- Go Nutz
- Mor Ladron Rum
- The Isle of Wight Distillery
- Poons London
Swansea Bay Business Awards 2025
We’re excited to announce we have been shortlisted as one of the top three businesses in the Manufacturing business of the year category of the Swansea Bay Business Awards 2025. The winner will be announced on January the 24th at the awards ceremony held at Swansea’s Brangwyn Hall. To be shortlisted for this award is a very proud moment for our business. Stay tuned to find out how we get on in the next edition of Viscose Voice in March.
Some 2024 Viscose Highlights:
As we approach the end of 2024, we reflect on the busy but successful year we have had.
Here’s our highlights:
Our Online shop
As some of you might remember, in May of this year we launched our new ‘Buy Online’ website feature. This brings you a selection of our most popular items that pair with some of the bestselling containers across the food, drink, medical gas and pharmaceutical industries. Since our launch in May, our website sales have really taken off and we haven’t looked back! We are extremely proud and grateful to the team for all the time they put into getting this project over the finish line this year and we hope to continue web shop success in 2025!
Tradeshows:
We exhibited at two tradeshows this year: Farm Shop & Deli in April and London Packaging Week in September. These shows were the first we’ve exhibited at for many years. Both shows were busy but extremely successful. At London Packaging Week, our plastic-free shrink sleeves were shortlisted as one of the top ten most innovative products of the whole show- something we are very proud of! Well done to the other companies shortlisted too!
We really enjoyed meeting new and existing customers and expanding our reach within the food, drink and general packaging industries. Both shows were so successful we’ve rebooked to exhibit at both again in 2025 (Farm Shop and Deli- 7-9th April and London Packaging Week- 15-16th October). Alongside this, we are also going to be exhibiting at Packaging Innovations in NEC 12-13th of February.
Thank you to everyone that took the time to visit the stand or share/comment on our social media posts, over the two shows this year, it is very much appreciated.
US trip:
At the end of March, Emma and Seren visited our US distributors and partners of our plastic-free shrink sleeves (or celons as they are known in the US) in Cleveland, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois. It was a busy but brilliant trip, the team learned so much and built on our already strong business relationships and friendships, aligning our business plans to grow the plastic-free shrink sleeves market in the US. Thank you to both our wonderful partners for having us and we already can’t wait to visit again soon!
New video:
In April, we released our new product video. The video demonstrates that embracing sustainability into your packaging does not mean compromising on quality or security. Smaller packaging like shrink sleeves is often overlooked in comparison to containers but remain vital to supermarket and stockist requirements. Our products blend functionality with environmental responsibility, to help you make the best choices for your products and the planet.
Portugal trip:
At the beginning of July, our team visited our wine cork and bartops (also known as t-stoppers) supplier in Portugal. In 2020 we added corks and bartops to our product portfolio. As a sustainable, natural product, they align perfectly with our other eco-friendly products and increase our one stop shop offering for the food and drink industry. A natural wood and cork stopper is a premium finish for any bottle. However, they are not tamper-evident so partner perfectly with our plastic-free, biodegradable seals and heat shrink open top capsules. This was an educational trip for our team, with them witnessing the entire process firsthand as well as seeing some of our own product being made in real time. This was an insightful and successful visit which allowed us to strengthen the bond between us and our manufacturer as well as gaining some key knowledge to share with our customers. A big thank you to our wonderful Portuguese partner for having us, and we look forward to visiting again soon!
Staff Corner:
Dannie White’s graduation:
As some of you may remember from our Summer Edition of Viscose Voice 2023, where Dannie White appeared in our staff profile. Dannie was until recently our Electrical Engineering Apprentice, who started at Viscose in 2020. After becoming a qualified Electrical Engineer, Dannie started his HNC accreditation in 2023 and completed it in the summer of this year. Dannie graduated in July and was awarded a distinction for his HNC in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Join us in congratulating Dannie on this brilliant achievement.
Stephen Armstrong’s The Manufacturer Top 100 award:
Back in June, Stephen (Head of Operations) was awarded as one of The Manufacturer Top 100 for 2024, winning both the Inspiring Leader and Unsung Hero. If you know Stephen, you will know that he is one of the most hard-working and supportive people. His commitment and dedication to his team is exemplary and that these awards are truly well deserved. Join us in congratulating Stephen on his awards.
Macmillan Coffee Morning:
On the 26th of September we held our company Coffee Morning in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. This year we held a Viscose Bake-Off competition for the best cake baked, with customised trophies and prizes for 1st-3rd place! The image below is of Steve Hughes being presented his trophy by our MD Emma for winning the Viscose Bake Off competition for the best baked cake. We had a lot of fun, all whilst raising £150 towards their vital cancer support and research work. We can confirm a lot of cake was consumed too!
Wearing pink for Breast cancer:
October was Breast Cancer Awareness month; on the 17th of October we asked our colleagues to wear pink in support of the Breast Cancer Now charity. We raised £83 in total in support of their vital life-saving research and support for people diagnosed with Breast Cancer.
Christmas foodbank donation:
At the end of November, we delivered our Christmas Foodbank donation to our friends at Sketty Foodbank Swansea. They are a local, independent and volunteer-run Foodbank, that provide essential food parcels for between 35 and 50 households in crisis each week.
This is our second year donating at Christmas time. This time of year, can be a difficult time for many. As such, we asked our staff to donate any dried and canned food such as rice, pasta and soup that they could, as well as any Christmas themed goods including selection boxes and Christmas Puddings. The turnout was outstanding again, a real testament to our brilliant staff.
We’re so grateful to Sketty Foodbank and its brilliant volunteers for all their critical and life-saving work.
Mr X Appeal:
This is a charity very close to our hearts and we have supported them for many years. This is a local scheme in South Wales that provides Christmas presents for less fortunate children & families who would otherwise go without. The Mr X charity works with nearly 150 Childcare agencies and is a massive operation that takes much organising. This year our staff donated 33 bags filled with toys, clothes and books to be given to children in the South Wales area, another real testament to our brilliant staff.
Save The Children Christmas Jumper Day:
On the 10th of December our staff all wore Christmas jumpers to work in aid of the charity- Save The Children, whose mission is to keep children in the UK and around the world safe, healthy and learning.
Viscose in the press:
We’ve been busy in the press in recent months. Here’s some highlights:
In August, we featured in Packaging Suppliers Global magazine, discussing our one stop shop for all customer tamper evident packaging needs.
Read the article for yourself here (pages 28-29) https://packagingsuppliersglobal.com/magazines/packaging-suppliers-global-issue-three-2024-london-packaging-week-special
We were proud to have been selected as a top exhibitor from the Farm Shop and Deli show by the Food & Drink Matters Magazine for their July edition and featured in their show review. Click here to read in full (page 6)
We were honoured to have been selected as the Food Packaging & Containers Company of the Month by the Food & Drink Matters Magazine and featured in their latest edition. Click here to read in full (page 17)
See our A4 promotion here on page 2 also
In November, we were selected and featured in Packaging News’ forward look of the caps and closures category ahead of Packaging Innovations. In particular, our bartops for spirits were highlighted as a product to watch out for during the show. Check out the feature here and remember to come see us at the show, stand Q74!
Looking ahead to 2025
As we look ahead to 2025, we have another busy and exciting year ahead of us!
A flavour of what we have upcoming next year:
- We’ll be exhibiting at 3 trade shows next year (the most we have exhibited at in one year to date)- Packaging Innovations in February (NEC Birmingham), Farm Shop and Deli Show in April (NEC Birmingham) and London Packaging Week (Excel London) in October.
- The results of the Swansea Bay Business Awards in January
- Expanding our online shop to include EU shipping and more product lines
- Increasing our export sales particularly the Australasian market
- Installation of a new air con system in our factory – improving working conditions in both winter and summer.
- Welcoming some new team members and welcoming others back from maternity!
So watch this space for updates over the next couple of months!
Next Edition:
Thank you for reading Viscose Voice this year, we hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it! Look out for 2025’s first edition of Viscose Voice in March!
Until then, may we wish you Season’s Greetings and a Happy New Year from Everyone at Viscose, we look forward to working with you again in 2025!
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