Northwood Hygiene Products marks 50 years in business with continued growth and innovation
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024, Northwood Hygiene Products (Northwood) is a cohesive network of associated companies dedicated to the manufacturing, supply, and transportation of high-quality paper hygiene and wiping products. Serving a diverse range of clients, the business offers solutions for both the away-from-home sectors and the consumer market across the UK and Europe.
Founded in 1974 by Paul Fecher, the business was originally known as Northwood Paper Sales and was established to focus on the supply of parent reels for the tissue sector. In 2009, Northwood ventured into manufacturing for the first time with the acquisition of Kruger Tissue’s UK operations, which included a tissue mill and converting site. Notably, in 2019, Northwood expanded its operation into Europe with the acquisition of Spanish business, Dicepa.
Northwood has grown significantly through both acquisition and internal investment in state-of-the-art equipment since we last spoke with the company in 2018.
As Northwood celebrates its 50th year in business, we’re joined by Peter Foy, Operations Director, to learn more about Northwood’s current successes.
“Our commitment to innovation, sustainability, and customer satisfaction has always set us apart in the industry,” he opens. “Celebrating our 50th anniversary has led us to reflect on our growth. We believe our family ownership, entrepreneurial spirit, and agility have helped us retain our competitive advantage as we’ve grown. In away-from-home, for example, we are the only supplier to service all levels of the market – from very small distributors to national catering groups.
“We have a very flat management structure, allowing for faster decision making and genuine customer relationships based on service and quality. We look to leverage our vertical integration, from paper sales and wastepaper recycling to paper making and converting, warehousing, and even our own logistics fleet. We can strengthen our service through further optimization of our systems, policies, and procedures, and our group ethos of not standing still is at the heart of everything we do.
Guiding principles
“Our guiding principles – one family, zero harm by choice, leading with humility, and empowered teams – shape our day-to-day operations. As a family-business, we consider our employees as one family and foster a culture of inclusivity, trust, and respect. Safety is also at the forefront of everything we do, with our policy of zero harm by choice demonstrated by our employees making conscious choices every day. Leading with humility means constantly learning, listening to employees, and inputting their thoughts and ideas into our leadership style. Lastly, we embrace continuous improvement, empowering our people to grow and develop.”
Reflecting on the company’s recent growth, Peter shares: “Northwood has experienced particular success over the last five years or so, and the creation of Northwood Dicepa in Spain widened both our portfolio and geographic reach. One year later, in 2019, we purchased Matryx, adding a recycled tissue mill and additional converting sites to strengthen our away-from-home portfolio.
“In 2022, we strategically invested in the retail market by acquiring Consuma Paper Products, based near Grantham in Lincolnshire, which we’ve transformed into Northwood Consuma. To grow this business, we purchased a large site at Ellesmere Port in 2023 and by the end of 2024, we’ll have three state-of-the-art, high capacity converting lines fully operational to bolster the manufacturing of toilet and kitchen role for the retail market.
“We primarily service three markets,” he states. “In the UK, we supply the away-from-home sectors, such as hospitality, retail, and leisure, with paper and wiping products from medical ‘couch’ roll for doctors’ surgeries to wiping towels for garage forecourts. Secondly, for the consumer market, Northwood is the UK’s leading supplier of facial tissue for the main grocers. We manufacture conventional toilet and kitchen roll, which have been a major focus of capital investment over the last few years. Lastly, Northwood Dicepa services the Iberian and French market with napkins, place mats, and hygiene products.”
Continuous improvement
Reflecting on the challenges faced by businesses in recent years, Peter shares how Northwood adapted to navigate these issues, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. “The worldwide Covid pandemic of 2020 had a huge impact on our away-from-home business, as it essentially saw a temporary closure of the hospitality sector,” he says. “However, as a family-owned business with an entrepreneurial spirit, our leaders made the quick decision to diversify into other markets. To mitigate revenue lost in other areas, we purchased a machine for manufacturing face masks, and we also supplied hand sanitizer across Europe.
“However, while we expanded our reach to products in demand, we continued to invest in our core markets to ensure we could fulfil backdated demand once the pandemic eased. We retained our people and came out of the pandemic as a stronger group, ready to tackle new challenges with a resilient mindset.”
Recognizing the importance of continuous improvement, especially in a fast-paced, dynamic market, Northwood consistently invests in new machinery and technologies. “It is essential to adopt best practices across the group to ensure we remain competitive,” Peter confirms. “Over the last six years, we’ve invested significantly in new equipment to enhance the level of automation, flexibility, and speed at which we operate.
“We’ve not only invested in our assets, but also in our people. We’re committed to our apprenticeship program, for example, and strive to provide a welcoming and engaging workplace culture that supports personal and professional development. We’re also striving to standardize our processes and procedures across the group, including our systems from ERP and warehouse management to automated labelling, to name just a few.”
Aside from internal investment, Northwood also prides itself on collaboration. “It is essential for us to develop strategic partnerships with our key suppliers, such as United Tissue Converting, where we collectively share knowledge of how to further improve and innovate to meet current and future market demands,” Peter explains. “A key example of this is plastic reduction. We maintain close relationships with polythene suppliers to maximize the post-consumer recycled (PCR) content and work with our corrugated suppliers for product alternatives.
“We now produce polythene with up to 75 percent PCR content, and we’re looking at replacing most of our plastic packaging with corrugated boxes instead. We’re also reducing secondary plastic by transporting products on pallets using interlayer sheets, as well as collaborating with equipment manufacturers to find new methods of packaging without plastic.”
Turning to the future, Peter concludes: “Our priority for 2025 is to further embed our guiding principles, continuously improve each business stream, and further invest in our equipment and people. We’re an ambitious company looking to grow our market share as we continue to effectively service our customers, build collaborative partnerships, and maximize our contribution not only to our group but to the economy and wider society.”