We celebrated our half-century in style at our offices in Burntwood as our employees, suppliers, customers, friends and family gathered to join in the festivities. Lord Stafford unveiled a plaque to commemorate 50 years of successful trading, and Adrian Steele, MD reminded the audience that 50 years of successful trading is a feat that very few businesses achieve – just 1% in the UK.

In fact, we started trading before man walked on the moon, and over the past five decades have occupied 5 different factories, employed hundreds of people, and serviced thousands of businesses. During that time, we have produced well over 10 billion labels, which if laid end to end would reach to the moon and back – twice!

Visitors included Burntwood Councillor Sue Woodward, as well as Tony Baily and Lee Elson from Synatel – customers for over 30 years, and Simon Bates from the NFU who have provided insurance to Mercian for over 20 years.

A cake was cut by the longest and most recently joined employees Alison Witton (25 years) and Anna Folwarska (25 days). It was noted that in total all 50 in the team share 287 years of service.

Tours of the factory followed, which showcased two recently launched initiatives for the 50^thYear – Mercian Zero, an environmental drive that has eliminated any waste to landfill and removed harmful solvents from the manufacturing processes; and Mercian Gold, designed to highlight the premium embellishment opportunities with which Brands can add value to their product offerings.

A group of year 10 students from Chase Terrace Technical College also had a rare opportunity to look around a working world-class factory in their locality, discovering that manufacturing can be a rewarding and challenging career.

We are one of the oldest and most innovative self-adhesive label manufacturers in the UK. Operating from a state-of-the-art factory in Burntwood, Staffordshire and employing approximately 50 people. In fact, we serve 9,000 business customers worldwide, and in addition to our core portfolio of self-adhesive labels, we manufacture the LabelLock™ brand of security labels and the Gammatex™ brand of Gamma Irradiation indicators, both of which enjoy substantial global sales.

Mercian Labels are so thankful for our amazing team both past and present.

Thank you Team Mercian!