FFP and ESP Produce a Fresh Lidding Partnership

They pioneered the growth of lidding films via their Esterpeel brand, and have developed new materials to meet changing needs, including the introduction a couple of years ago of the world's first post-consumer recycled polyester (rPET) lidding film.

3/23/2011 --- Gloucestershire based ESP, the leading fresh produce packaging materials supplier, has struck up a partnership deal with FFP Packaging Solutions of Northampton, ESP will stock and supply FFP's leading range of heatseal lidding films into fresh produce growers and packers, giving them access to FFP's decades of lidding experience and world-beating range of plain and printed lidding films and laminates.

ESP employ staff from produce and production backgrounds, so they really understand what the producers and growers need from their packaging suppliers. Flexibility and responsiveness have marked ESP out, for example maintaining large stocks of packaging 'ready-to-go' in a 50,000 square foot warehouse. FFP Packaging Solutions have a similar background within, primarily, the convenience foods sector; with a 40-year history of innovation and introduction of new ideas and new products.

They pioneered the growth of lidding films via their Esterpeel brand, and have developed new materials to meet changing needs, including the introduction a couple of years ago of the world's first post-consumer recycled polyester (rPET) lidding film. FFP is also an award-winning flexible packaging printer, and has led the way in the introduction of printed lidding films, often used to replace labels. As soft fruit packers among others move away from clip-on lids for punnets and trays and towards lidded solutions, ESP identified FFP as the ideal partner to work with.

As Ronan Lynch, Managing Director of ESP, put it, ‘FFP are the acknowledged experts in lidding film and have been supplying to the ready meals industry for decades. They are the perfect partner for us as lidding film usage continues to grow, they bring the product range, technical team and experience and we are set up to offer the service levels that the growers need.

FFP's commitment to the new arrangement includes a substantial investment in terms of new high-speed punching equipment, and their Business Development Manager, Gary Tee, said: ‘FFP has been developing and supplying flexible packaging into the fresh produce area for a few years now, and we are delighted that we have found a great partner, one that shares our attitude to our customers and has the expertise that will mean that produce packers can benefit from FFP's latest materials and technology.