The base in Glasgow is part of a distribution and storage hub belonging to logistics business Bullet Express and follows Macfarlane Group’s £1.8m acquisition this May of packaging company Edward McNeil, one of a string of recent acuisitions for the UK packaging firm.
The new centre at Baillieston in Glasgow will complement Macfarlane’s other Scottish distribution centre located in Inverness.
Macfarlane's Glasgow hub, which is situated close to the motorway network, will sit in 2,600sqm of the facility’s 10,126sqm total space.
As part of the deal, Bullet Express, which provides transport and logistics services to more than 400 customers across the UK, will source all of its protective packaging from Macfarlane Packaging.
Macfarlane will utilise Bullet Express’ logistics services to support its existing distribution service. The 10-year deal means that more than 75% of the 21,000 pallet spaces within Bullet Express’s Baillieston facility are now let.
Macfarlane Packaging group regional director David Machin said: “The facility opened three weeks ago and followed the takeover of Edward McNeil.
“It's a good fit but we wanted better distribution, which is part of our DNA. We retain our core distribution service but can now cherry-pick transport elements for the wider Scottish market.
“It's a 10-year deal so it's not a here-today-gone-tomorrow situation. Scotland makes up no more than 5% of our turnover but this deal will help us change that, I think.”
Macfarlane, formed in the in the late 1940s, is a £170m-turnover business with 700 staff that bills itself the UK's largest distributor of packaging.
Headquartered in Glasgow, it has 22 sites and serves more than 20,000 customers in Europe and the USA. Clients come from logistics, electronics, food manufacturing, retail, internet and mail order.
Machin added: “Investing in this move underlines our commitment to growing our protective packaging distribution business in Scotland.
“Our new facility at Baillieston will accommodate our growth plans at a location that is well situated to more effectively service our customer base in Scotland.”
Bullet Express' managing director David McCutcheon said: “Macfarlane was our first customer when we set up business in 1990.
“So having them on-site is particularly significant. I enjoyed working with the Macfarlane team to make this deal come alive and we look forward to supporting them going forward.”
