After nearly 40 years as man and boy,  Andy Southern is finally retiring from the helm at Windmill. Andy joined the business back in 1987 becoming a director in 1990 and laterally MD in 2000. During that time we have grown from a small slitter of gum paper tape into a sizeable manufacturer of self-adhesive packaging tape, flexo and digital self-adhesive labels. Major milestones in that journey are the decision to diversify into self-adhesive labels Andy took in 2000 with the purchase of our first Mark Andy 2200.

We then acquired another self-adhesive tape business SALT NW in 2006 making us one of the largest printers of self-adhesive tapes in the country. By 2011 Andy had foreseen the likely growth in digital print technology within the label sector. We had the option at that point to acquire another business Commercial Label Products who had already established themselves as digital print experts with both HP and Xiekon presses so the acquisition allowed us to immediately have a presence in that market.

Since then we have gone from strength to strength under Andy’s leadership and today are a well known and established leader in the sectors in which we operate.

Andy is unlikely to stay away from the business completely given it’s been his life for so long but we wish him all the best for the future and expect to see a dramatic improvement in his golf handicap.