Herbert Walkers Ltd...

Last Wednesday I attended a study visit to ‘Herbert Walkers Ltd’ a production company in Shipley, Yorkshire. The company mainly specialize in commercial print and produce, single sheets of gift wrap, greetings cards, magazine innards and general packaging for a variation of industries. 

Herbert Walkers Ltd Head Office...

I was guided around the factory by Chris, who took me down to the factory floor and showed me around the huge variety of machinery that the company use during production. Unfortunately due to rules within the factory I was unable to take any photographs inside the factory or of any of the machines, however Chris’s tour was very informative and he gave me a list of the machines that the company use at the end of the visit.

Herbert & Walker use a huge variety of finishing techniques , which were explained to me by Chris…

Techniques/Machinery:-

Embossing: A machine that creates several multi-level raised images on different layers. The machine then enhances selected areas of the design to give them more of a defined finish. The process doesn’t actually differ that much to the screen print process.

Die Cutting: Used to cut out ready-made shapes within completed designs/products, used a lot within food packaging.

Foiling: A coloured foil is selected. A layer of glue is then placed over the selected area of the design, the foil is then added to give the illusion of either a flat or raised image.

Flitter: It sounds like glitter…that’s because it is! Flitter actually stands for ‘fine glitter.’ The glitter is suspended within a translucent clear solution creating a light and delicate glitzy effect when dried. Mostly used on greetings cards, gift wrap and gift cards.

Cutting and Folding: Machinery folded the packaging saving the company time and the extra cost of labor.  

Overall I really enjoyed my study visit. I feel like I know a lot more about production methods and production processes within a factory environment. At the end of the visit I was kindly given a huge amount of samples from around the factory to take home. The sample pack included examples of flitter, embossing foiling and die cutting used on greetings cards produced within the factory..

A selection from my Herbert Walkers sample pack.