All Packaged Up At The UPAC Group

The UPAC Group is Scotland’s largest independent packaging supplier with facilities in Glasgow, East Kilbride and Broxburn. They offer the only single source supply of all your packaging needs in Scotland and certainly have your packaging needs all sorted. Paul Andrews spoke to owner Chris Kelly to find out more.

The UPAC Group has a history spanning over 50 years within the packaging industry and over the years has acquired key businesses and built on long standing relationships to transform the business into the largest packaging supplier in Scotland.

As Chris explains “the business has developed to meet market demands and is constantly evolving to meet the needs of our customers. We have invested in the business in order to create a one-stop shop for packaging whereby we cover the entire packaging supply process from concept to final product delivery.”

“As a collective, we offer the best solution for our clients’ box packaging needs, with access to specialist machinery in the manufacture of corrugated boxes, solid board cartons, lithographic laminate boxes, polythene products, labels and a distribution arm to ensure unrivalled packaging services,” continues Chris.

“In addition, our full in-house design team is ready to work side by side with our clients to create solutions exclusive to their specific business requirements,” he adds.

With 180,000 square foot of storage and a fleet of vehicles at their disposal, The UPAC Group is well placed to make sure products are always available when they are needed most.

The size and scale of the business, means that the group have an infrastructure and buying power which allows them to offer the best options available in the market.

This is a family business with a mission to become the pre-eminent packaging supplier in Scotland, rivalling the very largest companies across the UK. For Chris and the team, this aim is best served by remaining largely focused on the wholesaling side of the business, with a small number of specific, but important, manufacturing exceptions such as litho-printed carton manufacturing and litho-laminated carton manufacturing and labels manufacturing.

As Chris continues, “Adopting this structure as both a wholesaler and manufacturer is quite unique, but it is enormously valuable as it means the company carry a huge volume of stock and achieve pricing that cannot be matched elsewhere. Ultimately, we are utterly determined to drive exceptional customer service and to consolidate our position in the marketplace through exceptional customer service.”

The business continues to invest and innovative solutions are never far away. To meet the changing market demand, they have recently launched a new division, We-Pac. A Chris continues, “We saw an opportunity and We-Pac was launched as a result. With the profound effect Covid-19 has had on many businesses, from lockdown to mass furloughing, more and more companies have sought to outsource their packaging needs as they seek to manage reduced workloads, premises or staffing levels.”

“We have been increasingly asked by our customer base for assistance both in stockholding and fulfilment. This new division effectively just crystalises the work we are already doing into something more structured and should result in both new jobs and opportunities at a time where our customers need support.”

“The new division will operate out of our substantial site in Cardonald and is another positive step in the evolution of The UPAC Group as we seek to adapt to the ever-changing economic market conditions.”

The UPAC Group is collective of family-owned packaging manufacturers and suppliers throughout Scotland consisting of WM Watson Packaging, Scotia Surplus Boxes, U-label-It, Merlin Healthcare Packaging & UPAC Cartons.

It is constantly striving to improve the customer experience and looking at new ways to add value and with the drive, determination and entrepreneurial spirit leading constant evolution and innovation, this is a business that certainly appears to have things all boxed up!

Find out more at www.upac.co.uk