The snack food and soft drink packaging and labels firm, which boasts Coca-Cola as a client, aims to lose the 37 or so jobs through natural means or voluntary redundancies.

It has around 270 staff at the factory in Bury, Lancashire, which has been hit with the losses, and 80 employees in Saffron Walden, Essex.

"We are in consultation with Amicus GPMS and GMB and there is no timescale for the job losses in print and finishing," said a spokesman. "It's a shame to lose the jobs but capacity will increase."

He did not reveal what new kit was being bought.

The company, which aims to reduce shifts because of the new kit, was called Flexpack until being bought by US Printpack in 1993.