The History Of
Auto-Wrappers
Part 3
The Edward Street Factory
Auto Wrappers (Norwich) Ltd
(The Tobenoil Years) 1958 to 1966
In
1958
Autowrappers
was
sold
to
an
investment
company
called
Tobenoil
Ltd,
Tobenoil
had
been
incorporated
the
previous
year
on
20th
of
June
1957,
the
takeover
by
Tobenoil
provided
investment
that
would
see
the
company
grow and develop new machines and technology that was needed for a rapidly expanding packaging market.
Below
is
article
sent
to
us
by
Jean
Cann
(
Charles
Maddison's
daughter
)
from
the
Eastern
Evening
News
dated
Thursday
27th
of
November
1958,
outlining
the
sale
of
Auto-Wrappers
to
the
Tobenoil
Group
And
Charles
Maddison’s journey of success.
Photo Ref: AW0646-7-8 Courtesy of Jean and Kenneth Cann, Copyright Eastern Counties Newspapers
It would be during this next period that Auto-wrappers would develop two milestones in its packaging history,
The
first
development
was
in
1960
with
the
introduction
of
the
AT
Flow-Wrapper,
this
machine
produced
a
new
style
of
wrap
that
had
airtight
seals
and
helped
increase
the
shelf
life
of
products
it
contained,
the
downside
was
this
machine
alone
hit
the
sales
of
the
older
"Cut
&
Wrap"
machines
very
hard,
as
customers
now
wanted
the
benifits
and seal quality of a flow-wrapper.
Over the next 10 years the "Cut & Wrap" machines would gradually disappear into oblivion.
The
Second
milestone
in
the
history
of
Autowrappers
was
the
introduction
of
the
Super
2000
Roll-wrapper,
introduced
in
the
early
60s
this
new
design
was
a
progression
from
the
RH
Roll-Wrapper,
but
with
new
castings
and mechanics it was far more robust and versatile than its predecessors, but more importantly it was also faster.
this design has proved to be so good, that the same machine is still being manufactured today.
Photo Ref: AW0553 AT Flow-Wrapper
Photo Ref: AW0552 Super 2000 Roll Wrapper
Autowrappers
entered
the
North
American
market
through
the
popularity
of
the
Roll
Wrapper.
There
are
over
200
machines
in
North
America
wrapping
a
range
of
products
from
Sweetarts
to
Lifesavers.
These
machines
have
been
in
the
market
for
over
50
years.
Companies
such
as
Nestle,
Van
Melle
and
J&J
still
have
and
use
these
machines and have come to count on their efficient and robust daily operation.
The
machine
list
below
from
1961
shows
the
standard
range
of
machines
produced
at
the
Edward
St
factory,
due
to
the
introduction
and
versatility
of
the
AT
Flow-wrapper,
the
range
of
other
machines
was
reduced
compared
to
vast
range of machines produced in previous years.
Photo Ref: AW0500
It was also around this period that Auto-Wrappers started producing coloured sales brochures and flyers.
The
Lord
Mayor
of
Norwich
Mr
Tom
Eaton
visits
the
Edward
St
factory
in
1958,
We
have
been
sent
information
by
Rod
Horne,
that
the
person
in
the
white
coat
talking
to
The
Lord
Mayor
is
Charles
(
Bill
)
Maddison,
the
founder
of
Autowrappers.
Photo Ref:AW0240. Photo Courtesy of Richard Rush and Trevor Kirby and thanks to the guys at "Norwich in the good old days from the 60s"
Facebook site for helping with the name of the Mayor
Rod Horne sent us the following information ....
This
photo
shows
three
people
by
a
Cartoning
machine
The
man
on
the
right
is
Ken
Calinski,
Ken
was
Polish
and
leading
hand
on
most
things
apart
from
Roll
Wrappers.
The
big
man
in
the
white
overall
is Charles
(Bill)
Maddison
and
the
little
guy
peeking
over
the
top
of
the
machine,
to
Charlie’s
right,
is
man
named
Mr
Frank
Salt.
He
was
a
director, or some such lofty position with Tobenoil.
Photo Ref:AW0241 Photo Courtesy of Richard Rush and Trevor Kirby
Edward St dispatch, Crated machines being loaded onto the British Road Services lorry, ready for delivery.
Photo Ref:AW0242. Photo Courtesy of Richard Rush and Trevor Kirby
Below are photos sent to us by Mick Tooke who was a driver for British Road Services, showing machines being
dispatched from the Edward St factory.
Photo Ref: AW0204 Photo courtesy of Mick Tooke ( Driver for BRS )
Photo Ref: AW0208 Machines Leaving Edward st to be delivered to the customers, Photo courtesy of Mick Tooke
( Driver for BRS )
As
mentioned
previously,
in
1960
the
Company
decided
to
introduce
a
new
"pillow"
packing
machine
known
as
the
AT
flow-wrapper
for
a
variety
of
new
applications.
The
success
of
this
addition
soon
became
apparent,
these
machines were quickly accepted by major users and helped expand the Company's manufacturing requirements.
When
i
first
joined
the
company
in
the
early
90s
i
was
told
many
stories
by
other
engineers
on
how
Auto
Wrappers
ventured
into
Flow-wrapping,
one
of
them
(
incorrectly)
was
that
in
the
60s
a
Swiss
company
called
SIG-Pack
(
now
Bosch
)
asked
us
to
build
Flow-wrappers
for
them
for
the
UK
market
and
when
this
fell
though,
Autowrappers
stole
the SIG design and Built their own copies, Well i can happily say that most of this story was not true...
Auto
Wrappers
designed,
developed
and
manufactured
its
own
flow-wrapper
in
1960,
the
"AT
Flow-Wrapper"
and
produced
this
machine
for
the
UK
market,
six
years
later
in
1966
due
to
the
AT
machines
popularity,
excellent
build
quality,
and
also
the
huge
demand
for
flow-wrapping
machines
in
the
UK,
Autowrappers
were
aproached
by
the
Swiss company
SIG-pack
and
asked
if
Autowrappers
could
manufacture
their
SIG
HSU
model
Flow-wrapper
under
licence
for
the
UK
market.
an
agreement
was
made
and
The
HSU
was
manufactured
under
licence
alongside
Auto-wrappers
own
brand
of
"AT"
flow-wrappers,
Autowrappers
for
many
years
supported
and
supplied
parts
for
the
SIG
HSU
machines, possibly until the early1980s, More to follow about the SIG machines in a later History section.
Photo Ref: AW0554 The Autowrappers "AT" Flow-Wrapper
The
photo
below
shows
the
development
centre
at
the
Edward
St
factory
around
1963-64,
the
development
center
was
an
important
part
of
the
evolving
packaging
industry,
new
machine
designs
were
tried
and
tested
and
older
designs
were
improved.
New
products
to
be
wrapped
would
pass
through
this
area
to
be
trialed
and
tested
for
customers before they placed orders for new machines.
Photo Ref: AW0207 Edward St Development Centre, Photo Courtesy of David Crisp
Under
the
guidance
and
management
of
the
TOBENOIL
group,
Autowrappers
sales
increased
rapidly
as
did
production
of
its
machines,
this
also
required
more
staff
to
build
the
machines,
and
subsequently
by
1964
a
larger
premises
was
required
due
to
the
increasing
demand
for
the
machines,
a
new
site
at
Whiffler
Road
was
found,
plans
were
drawn
up
and
planning
permission
was
granted
on
the
14th
of
January
1965,
at
the
time
it
was
on
the
very
outskirts
of
Norwich
surrounded
by
open
fields,
but
as
Norwich
grew
so
did
the
surrounding
industry
around
the Autowrappers factory.
A new era followed ......