Company

Company

Company History

We’re extremely proud of our history, from a humble small scale start-up company in 1973 to the innovative successful modern thermoformer we are today.

1973

The company was founded in 1973 by Chris Kershaw.

Macclesfield Packaging was set up on the first floor of an old print mill to make packaging for Dinky Toys and Meccano.

1970's

The business moves to Macclesfield

The business soon moved to Thorp Mill in Macclesfield as it rapidly grew out of the new need for the invention of themoforming. At the time machines were manually run at 4-6 cycles/minute if you were lucky.
1980's

Continued expansion

The business continued to expand and moved to Bredbury in the 1980’s.
1990

ISO9001 accreditation

In 1990 Macpac gains ISO9001 accreditation. The investment in our toolrooms meant that this was necessary for quality development of tooling.
1996

A fire prompts another move

After a devastating fire at our Bredbury factory, the business moved to our current address on Heaton Mersey Industrial Estate where we occupied a single industrial unit with 4 machines.
1997

Graham joins the family business

In 1997 Graham came back into the family business after University graduation and working overseas for ten years. During his time abroad Graham was a member of Greenpeace which might explain some of his later actions.

1998

Macpac introduces CNC

Macpac introduce the early CNC’s in their toolroom in a move away from traditional cast aluminium toolmaking to highly accurate CAD/CAM machining.
2000


Macpac wins Prestigious Starpack Gold Award for Carbon Monoxide detector.
We were also awarded the Bronze Award for technical innovation.
2003

A front runner for recycled materials

Macpac pushes RPET as one of the first companies in the UK to market this new product and drive the move away from PVC.
2005

Macpac enters the medical sector

Macpac ventures into the medical sector by designing the first thermoformed pill packaging which revolutionised administering medicines to elderly patients. This was soon followed by the introduction of Carehome packs. Made from recycled materials, these packs always had a clear blue tint due to the fact that they were made from recycled water bottles.
2008

Macpac doubles factory size

With the continued investment in new machinery, Macpac doubles the factory floor space to 10,000 sq ft. Later additions saw further expansion to make space for Raw/materials and finished goods.
2010

Macpac achieve BRC accreditation with major factory investment

Macpac wins BRC/IOP accreditation in 2010 heralding a £750K investment in state of the art machinery

2011

Macpac buys Hamilton Packaging

The aquisition provided Macpac with a share of the food packaging market.
2013

Macpac install the first Illig down stacking Machine in the UK

In conjunction with machine manufacturer Illig, Macpac help develop this new technology to help reduce tooling cost without the compromise of production efficiencies.
2013

Toolroom development

The continued expansion of the toolroom saw the introduction of Hurco CNC machines and an increase in engineers.

2014

Macpac win Silver Award at the Starpack Awards for Surecel Clam pack for Technical Innovation

2015

Further expansion

A further unit is added to expand the finished goods area significantly due to increased demand.
2015


Macpac win Bronze Award at the Starpack Awards for Snap In the category for Home- DIY, Gifts & Gardening
2016

Our innovation continues to be recognised

Macpac win Innovation of the year Award at Gro South Horticultural Exhibition for our Large Letter Pack design.

2019

MACPAC introduces Breakdown PET

Breakdown PET is a revolutionary new material which is fully recyclable AND biodegradeable.
2020

Rapid development when it counts

Macpac win The Railway Industry Awards special award for Covid -19 response for designing and manufacturing Hard hat visors in record time.
2022

Continued Investment

First ever down stacking & punch and die Thermoforming machine in the UK lands at Macpac.
2023

MACPAC is 50 years old!

We are celebrating 50 years in business.

Latest News

Discover the things that shape our business – packaging developments, production improvements, people and more.

Macpac achieves AA+ accreditation from BRCGS for packaging materials

Macpac achieves AA+ accreditation from BRCGS for packaging materials

Oct 10, 2023

Results of ‘unannounced’ audit underlines commitment to setting new benchmarks in the manufacture of high quality thermoformed packaging products Further reinforcing its position as one of the UK’s leading independent manufacturers of sustainable thermoformed...

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