New hand care production underway in Cumbria
Wax Lyrical, the UK’s largest home fragrance manufacturer, has completed the build of its new factory in Lindal-in-Furness and has also launched new hand care products in the hand and body care sector.
Initiating the sequence of mixing hand care ingredients in the new state of the art tanks last month, Chief Executive Jacqui Gale MBE said, “This is a huge undertaking and I could not be prouder of the design, science, engineering, production and office teams who made this possible. With testing and trials completed, I am honoured to officially commence the production of hand care, in 10 fragrances across our Made In England and Colony collections. These will be in stores by the start of October.â€
The first products are all about caring for hands with hydrating wash and moisturising lotion and the third new product, a fragranced no-rinse hand cleanser, does the same great job as Wax Lyrical sanitiser. As well as protection from germs you get exquisite fragrances such as Mediterranean Orange, Sunflower and Exotic Fig. Wax Lyrical owners, Portmeirion Group, invested £1.5 million to build the new production facility expanding capabilities at the Cumbria plant and heralding the new era.
Jacqui says the adjacent facility isn’t the only thing that’s new. “Beauty is a new sector for Wax Lyrical but our fragranced candles and diffusers have been making homes beautiful across the globe for 41 years. Beauty is a very busy sector, but we have the expertise in our state of the art lab and a very experienced, talented team throughout the company. We know our customers will relish the opportunity to have our fabulous fragrances sitting in their kitchens and bathrooms and their hands feeling refreshed and moisturised. They will also welcome the peace of mind they can frequently sanitise their hands with beautifully scented cleanser and have a pretty bottle in any room of the home.â€
Plans are underway for more hand care products in the other Wax Lyrical collections as well as different sizes and types of hand and body care. Jacqui says the investment reflects the Portmeirion longer term plans for growth, “By repurposing and restructuring our plant, we’ve built a new factory to accommodate six, 50 tonne storage tanks, several 36 tonne mixing tanks and a very clever filling, labelling and finishing line. We are surrounded by beautiful countryside and we’ve managed to significantly increase our capacity without increasing our footprint. We’ve also re-trained staff and restructured to maintain a competitive business in a financially difficult decade.â€
Jacqui says it’s the team achievements which keep her passionate, “It is exciting when we introduce new candles and diffusers and I was emotional when we made our first delivery of hand sanitiser to Furness General Hospital at the start of the pandemic. I’m looking forward to delivering a batch of fragranced hand care bottles to that same hospital in October to say thank you to the NHS on our doorstep. I truly can’t wait to see Wax Lyrical fragranced hand care in stores and in homes. Made here in the UK; loved and used across the globe.â€
