i2r presented with second prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise
His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire, Mrs Anna Turner, presenting the Queen’s award to i2r’s co-founders Peter Reay and Jon West, joined by their apprentices.
Market-leading aluminium foil tray manufacturer, i2r Packaging Solutions, has been presented with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation at a recent ceremony held at its Telford-based head office. i2r took receipt of the Queen’s Award scroll and commemorative bowl from His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire, Mrs Anna Turner JP. This is the second time that i2r has won a Queen’s Award – the first being in 2020 for International Trade.
Operating as part of the Italian Laminazione Sottile Group – one of the leading global suppliers of aluminium products – i2r was one of only 226 UK organisations to win the prestigious accolade in 2022. The company was recognised for their patent-protected smoothwall aluminium foil container, i2r Ultra, a stronger yet lighter tray used for packaging high quality ‘ready to cook ’convenience products including red meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, BBQ food and desserts.
The multi-award winning design uses a new style of embossing to dramatically increase stress resistance, creating a reduction in weight, price point and environmental impact of the product.
In its development, the design went through a protracted process using finite element analysis (FEA) predictive software. Thereafter, it was subjected to independent scientific testing and validation, including compression and tension tests conducted against the relevant ISO standard.
In increasing the sustainability of its products by reducing the amount of material used through design optimisation, i2r has been able to provide commercial choice by presenting innovative and authentic products at a lower price point against comparable containers, thereby creating added value for its customers ’brands.
Jon West, i2r’s chief commercial officer, said: “We were delighted to once again welcome the Lord-Lieutenant to our head office to present our second award. This Queen’s Award clearly has special significance and is particularly poignant having been granted in the final year of our late Queen’s reign.
“The achievement is a real honour and testament to the hard work, passion, and commitment of the whole team here at i2r.”
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the country, with winning businesses able to use the coveted Queen’s Awards ’emblem for the next five years.