Sir George Young MP was at the opening of De La Rue's Overton Quality Centre (From Hampshire Chronicle)
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Sir George Young MP was at the opening of Basingstoke headquartered De La Rue's Overton Quality Centre
11:00am Friday 12th October 2012 in Hampshire Business By Richard Garfield
Paper quality and technical manager Paul Rooke showing Sir George Young MP how test equipment operates
NORTH West Hampshire MP Sir George Young was on hand to officially open De La Rue’s new Overton Quality Centre.
The company’s Overton Mill produces banknote paper for countries across the world, and this year De La Rue is celebrating 300 years of making paper in Hampshire. Last Thursday’s opening ceremony was attended by more than 20 customers from 15 countries who were participating in the De La Rue Banknote Paper Conference that took place last week.
This new Quality Centre is part of De La Rue’s ongoing investment in production and quality. Along with production offices, there are two new laboratories which contain state-of-the-art testing equipment and real-time computerised systems, allowing tight customer requirements and specifications to be assured throughout the papermaking process. The labs are run within highly regulated temperature and humidity conditions, both of which are critical parameters when it comes to papermaking. Delighted to open the Overton Quality Centre, Sir George said: “This new facility symbolises the continued success of De La Rue, a great example of a UK company which has an unparalleled track record of successfully reaching global markets over many years, as well as playing a key role in the life of the local community.”
Tim O’Leary, head of operations at the Overton site, said: “With our new Quality Centre, and the associated quality assurance systems that we have introduced, we are able to more closely monitor the entire banknote paper production procedure, allowing improved process control and quality assurance.”
De La Rue is the world’s largest integrated commercial banknote printer. In the past five years, the group, which is headquartered in Basingstoke, has been involved in the design or production of more than 150 national currencies.
