Trade Envelopes has scored a $1.2m grant towards its $2.4m Geelong facility, where it plans to manufacture envelopes and labels and carry out high speed production digital print. Toby Pitt, managing director of the trade outfit which also has plants in NSW and Queensland, says the grant will enable the company to employ 36 staff in the 2500sqm Victorian expansion, which it expects to open in August.
Grant time: (l-r) Paula Kontelj, Liberal Geelong candidate; Sarah Henderson MP; Toby Pitt, managing director of Trade Envelopes and Denis Napthine, Victorian Premier
The facility, he says, will double Trade Envelopes’ capacity to two million envelopes a day, and reduce imported envelope volumes by 30 per cent – backing its belief in local manufacturing. The company will also expand its product range in line with industry trends – Pitt says this will be confirmed closer to the launch date. He says the outfit has seen a spike in personalised, targeted direct mail campaigns that deliver better ROI and margins than commodity products. Trade Envelopes is the only printer among five beneficiaries of the first round of the Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund grants; a federal and state government and Ford Australia funded initiative. Victorian printer PMI recently bagged $2.6m under a similar scheme; Melbourne’s $24.5m North Innovation and Investment Fund. Pitt tells AP that the grants are well worth applying for, though projects must meet stringent criteria. He says, “If there are members of the print industry looking at expansion, I would encourage them to apply for round two of the grant which is now open. I would be more than happy to talk to any potential applicants to give them my experiences of the process. “Geelong is an excellent location to expand into Victoria – or expand current Victorian production. Factory space, transport, well trained staff and a great town all make it a great place to do business.” The new site, near Avalon Airport, will host two Winkler + Dünnebier envelope machines imported from Europe and the US, and a standard sized digital printer. Twelve new staff will operate the start-up, with the extra 24 to come on board over two years.
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