Benni McCarthy is star for expanding Rishton company

7:09am Sunday 4th May 2008

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A COMPANY hopes that its latest six-figure signing will give it the cutting edge in acquiring future business deals.

The East Lancashire Box Company, Spring Street, Rishton, has spent almost £500,000 on a new cardboard cutting machine which bosses have christened Benni, in tribute to Blackburn Rovers striking ace Benni McCarthy.

And football-mad workers at the company even got to meet the South African ace when he unveiled the Bobst Spo 160 Vision.

Boss Peter Ingham, who oversees the 45-strong workforce, said the new equipment was brought in to replace the existing machine - known affectionately as Ronnie Clayton - which had "seen better days".

He said: "We'd had the old machine 20 years so the new one will allow us to improve our efficiency and output.

"We put the glue machine, known as Tugay, in two years ago and we found that if we had a backlog it was in putting the cardboard through the factory.

"This meant we had to replace it and that's why we've brought this in from Switzerland."

Mr Ingham said that the greater efficiency of the machine would allow the comany to seek new business.

He added: "We keep expanding every year and new machinery allows us to look for new business.

"There's no worry about the current economic climate, you just go out and get the business that's there."

The company specialises in shelf ready packaging that can go straight in to supermarkets.

The cardboard cases are the type that hold tins and other products and are a speciality of the company.

The firm has been in operation for over 25 years and has a turnover of about £3million.

And even the Burnley supporters have had no objection to the practice of naming machines after Rovers players.