Scottish Benchmark Packaging has invested £60,000 in new machinery to secure a major contract with soft drinks producer AG Barr to label more than 3M bottles of major soft drinks. Once complete, the Barrs returnable glass bottles - unique in the soft drinks market - will be sold for use in licensed premises throughout the UK. Benchmarks managing director, Russell Cohen, said: "When we re-launched our contract packing division earlier this year we made the decision to go head-to-head with the UKs leading contract packers in order to give Scottish businesses the option to keep their work north of the border. In order to achieve this goal we planned to invest £500,000 in our management team, facilities, processes and new product areas during 2011/12, although at the time we didn't envisage any of the investment paying such immediate dividends." Benchmark's clients also include Chivas Brothers, Chesapeake, Burns Stewart, The Edrington Group and William Grant & Sons.
