Icertech is investing in a bespoke automated water ice-pack production machine at its Wrexham factory, targeting a productivity improvement of up to 40% as it prepares to increase annual output from 12 million units to 30 million within five years.
The temperature-controlled packaging manufacturer has secured support through the North Wales Investment Zone SME Grant Programme for the design, manufacture and installation of a multi-pocket production system at its Wrexham Industrial Estate operation.
Icertech is a division of Lyan Packaging Supplies, which was established in 1988 and combines packaging distribution with manufacturing. Its Icertech operation specialises in temperature-controlled products used across food, drink and pharmaceutical supply chains, with chilled packaging products manufactured on site.
Automation has already changed the balance of the business. The company introduced automated production in 2015, and manufacturing now accounts for around half of the division’s turnover. Six full-time jobs were added during 2025 as output increased.
The new machine is intended to push that model considerably further. Annual production stood at around 12 million units in 2025, while Icertech is targeting 30 million within five years. The business also expects the investment to contribute towards doubling turnover and creating another 10 jobs over the same period.
A 40% productivity improvement will depend on more than the nominal speed of the new equipment. Ice-pack production involves material supply, filling, sealing, handling and quality control, and an increase in one operation can simply move the production constraint elsewhere if supporting processes are not configured for the higher rate.
The multi-pocket format should increase the amount of product that can be processed during each machine cycle, but repeatability remains as important as throughput. Temperature-control products need consistent fill volumes and reliable seals because failures can compromise the shipment they are intended to protect.
That becomes particularly important in pharmaceutical and laboratory logistics, where chilled packaging can form part of a validated distribution process. Manufacturers must be able to supply products with sufficiently consistent thermal and physical performance for logistics operators to model or qualify the packaging configuration around them.
Bringing manufacturing in-house gives Icertech greater direct control over those variables. It also reduces dependence on externally produced coolant products and gives the company more scope to alter formats, capacity and scheduling as customer demand changes.
The Wrexham investment follows a series of production and development projects rather than representing a first move into automation. The business has participated in an Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership focused on sustainability and productivity and has undertaken digitalisation work through local business-support programmes.
That sequence matters because smaller manufacturers often obtain the greatest benefit from automation when it is introduced as part of process development rather than as a stand-alone machine purchase. Production scheduling, data collection, operator roles and material flow all determine whether the additional mechanical capacity converts into lower unit cost.
The five-year output target also implies pressure beyond the production line. Increasing annual manufacturing from 12 million to 30 million units will require sufficient raw-material availability, warehouse capacity and outbound logistics, while higher finished-goods volumes have to be matched by customer demand if the factory is not simply producing inventory earlier.
Temperature-controlled packaging can be exposed to pronounced demand changes across food, pharmaceutical and scientific markets. Greater automation therefore has to provide flexibility as well as volume, allowing production to respond to different order sizes and product requirements without excessive changeover losses.
The investment provides a useful example of industrial automation at a scale below the major automotive and aerospace projects that dominate manufacturing investment statistics. Icertech is an independent specialist producer, but output measured in tens of millions of units creates the same basic incentive to remove repetitive work and stabilise production processes.
The North Wales Investment Zone grant is intended to help unlock that private investment rather than fund the resulting production itself. Its effectiveness will ultimately be measured through the additional output, employment and turnover generated after the machine enters service.
Icertech has placed clear numbers against that test: productivity of up to 40%, annual production rising towards 30 million units, 10 additional jobs and an ambition to double turnover. Installation of the new machine creates the technical capacity; the next five years will show whether the wider factory can convert that capacity into sustained manufacturing growth.
