THIS year’s Best of the West celebration is all about rebuilding our community in the face of Coronavirus. Having adapted its operations for the production of PPE for the NHS our sponsor Huhtamaki knows just how important that is.
Located at Kennedy Way Industrial Estate, Huhtamaki Belfast have come on board to sponsor the in-person Best of the West gala at the Devenish Complex on September 3.
The firm employs over 400 workers who print high quality folding cartons and paper packaging products for customers such as McDonald’s, KFC, Nando’s, Kellogg’s and Subway. But with the onset of the pandemic, many of their client’s business came to an abrupt halt.
“The drop in demand due to the closure of outlets for our biggest customers forced us to scale down production and look for ways to keep our employees in work and to also help our Health Service by turning our machines and our staff to the manufacture of PPE for the NHS,” she said.
“In conjunction with another Northern Ireland based manufacturer, Bloc Blinds, we designed and put into production in April 2020 a face visor to help protect against Covid. We repurposed our folding carton packaging machinery and began to produce four million units weekly for the NHS both in Northern Ireland and in England.
“Training staff to run machines with plastic instead of the usual paper was a true on-the-job training experience for both managers and experienced machine operators. The re-skilling has clearly raised the confidence of our operators and contributed to their well-being, with them being able to make a difference to the Health Service and others during a time of crisis.”
With this year’s Best of the West taking on added significance due the pandemic, Ms Lavery stated: “Our business has been at the centre of the West Belfast community for 25 years and we feel a duty to make a contribution to the local area. Many of our employees live in the local area and with their families rely on the local businesses at the heart of these awards, and of course to some extent, these local businesses rely on our employees.
"The Best of the West awards help to restore and reinforce the pride that we all have in our local area and to celebrate the diverse and unique business community in which we live and operate. It’s important for all of us at Huhtamaki to do what we can to support other businesses in our community and our sponsorship of the awards is a key part of this.”
Huhtamaki knows full well how important it is to adapt in adverse conditions and as the community looks to rebuild in the time ahead, Ms Lavery firmly believes that “doing business locally” will be key.
“Whilst many of us are starting to feel more confident about shopping and socialising after the last 18 months restrictions, it is crucial that we all remember that many individuals and local businesses have endured significant hardship and are still being impacted.
“The message needs to be one of care and consideration for others, especially as many of our local businesses are working extremely hard to operate safely and responsibly, whilst still enduring significant restrictions on staffing and capacity. We should be confident that our community is recovering but recognise that it might still be some time until things return to ‘normal’. Clear guidance on Covid regulations from the NI Executive will be critical to economic growth in Northern Ireland and we all play our part in being responsible individuals and employers with regards to following these regulations.”
Online voting is now open for Best of the West.
