ASC Direct have been trading for over 40 years; it’s only natural that we’ll have had some changes along the way. We’ve expanded our product ranges, built up our resources, so we can offer you faster turnaround times, and we’ve done it all with the planet in mind. The one thing that has never changed, is the quality of the packaging we offer our customers. Follow along with our timeline below to see how we got here.
Our History
1981
ASC Cartons was founded by a local Yorkshireman; with the help of his family, they covered a 30-mile area, spanning the region, offering corrugated cardboard products to small cottage industry businesses. Local people simply picked up the phone and they would have their boxes delivered to them faster than any comparable provider. Nowadays a carton is considered a form of drinks container, but the original term has its roots in the Medieval latin term “carta” meaning “paper”. By 1981, carton had become the default term for cardboard boxes.
2002
ASC Cartons had built up a loyal team of employees by this point, so it was only natural that they encouraged 2 of their longstanding employees to become directors of the business. Karl Wilson, who focused on the production side of things, and Andrew Woodhead, who took on more office based tasks such as sales and account management.
2003
The year that followed involved a rapid succession of changes. The last members of the founding family decided they wanted to sell the business. Karl and Andrew were more than happy to take on the organisation for themselves, but not without a little help. Management consultant Terry Higgins came in to form a management team with the pair; spearheading the transition of ownership over a 3 year period.
2006
Taking over a business is never a flippant decision; the 2 new owners had to obtain an enormous amount of funding, in the form of a business loan, to complete the transaction. It was time to take a risk. The internet was merely in its infancy; Internet Explorer was the browser of choice, MySpace was the dominant social media platform with 75 million active user and Facebook had only just allowed people outside of universities to create accounts. This is when ASC Direct was launched – ASCs new online store! Starting with a simple Ebay profile, ASC Direct offered stock cardboard boxes and other packaging products to the masses. Digital marketing wasn’t nearly as complex as it is now; a lot of websites resembled something like a yellow page exert, that happened to be on a screen, but Google had been on the scene for 8 years at this point. This technology innovator had already cemented its place as the search engine authority we know today. ASC direct was becoming even more recognisable – one of the advantages of being an early adopter of new tools.
2007
Ebay was (and remains to be today) a huge online marketplace that allows businesses to sell their products, without ever seeing the customer face to face. Being online; the speed of a transaction accelerates exponentially, and it takes a mental load off some customers who prefer a more casual purchasing experience. The seller also benefits from the huge existing user base Ebay offers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a perfect platform for ASC. We didn’t like relying on third parties to complete our transactions for us and we wanted to provide a more personalised service to our customers. We partnered with a digital agency to build our own website, offering the stock products that were available on Ebay, but also a brand new app we called our Box Builder. This allowed the customer to design their own bespoke packaging with their dimensions and custom design. Sparking the interest of brands like Dyson and Manchester United – we needed to bring more machines into the production warehouse just to keep up with demand!
2011
First major commercial target achieved.
2013
Aiming for faster turnaround times, we’re always expanding our arsenal of machines. A favourite that remains strong today is our autobox machine; cutting and creasing at a speed faster than any set of hands could! The more gear we utilise, the more important it is we regularly perform “tape and string engineering” - anything that’s considered a quick fix is removed asap and repaired to our professional standard. Regularity of cleaning and maintenance went up along with our orders.
2015
Almost doubling revenue with no signs of slowing down.
2019
To accommodate the increased web traffic and streamline the user experience, we changed our website provider, and a new web agency came in to provide a more modern look to the ASC Direct storefront. The original Cartons side of the business still operates in a more traditional manner; accepting orders over the phone from the larger corporate organisations that prefer a 1 on 1 conversation. It just happens to have become a smaller proportion of the business.
2020
Lockdown due to the Covid 19 pandemic threw the UK economy into chaos. We were one of the organisations lucky enough to continue operating throughout this period. More businesses switching to an online operation strategy caused a dramatic increase in traffic to our recently reinforced website. Not to mention mass unemployment across the nation, leading to many people starting their own small businesses. We were all too happy to provide these new entrepreneurs with not only packaging, but a way to flex their creative muscles with our Box Builder tool. At a time where the world seemed to stop turning, we provided a means for people to move themselves forward; not only thinking about the health of our planet but the health of the people living on it.
2022
To support our goals of protecting the environment, ASC began planting a tree for every 1000 boxes we manufacture with the help of One Tree Planted. 300 trees were planted on our behalf in the first year alone! This was also the year Robin Welch led a group of investors in buying out the business; making him the new chairman of ASC. With the help of Andrew and Karl, they devised a plan to invest in new people and technology, to double the size of the business. The board of directors also saw the addition of the operations director, Ashley Power, and our commercial director – both of which are also shareholders in the business. Together this team aims to integrate our core values of passion, integrity and striving for excellence in everything we do!
2023
The first step in actioning their plan wasa sizeable investment to build a new website on an entirely new infrastructure; adapting to the needs of our current clients, to make the process of ordering bespoke boxes as simple as possible. Not to mention the behind the scenes machinery to keep our orders and output balanced. This year also sees the appointment of our e-commerce specialist Georgia Debney and commercial manager James Palfery-Smith.
Moving into the Future
We’re deep into the age of the internet now; there will always be a place for that small local person, delivering cardboard boxes to their neighbours. But as the online world becomes more saturated, it becomes even more difficult to be seen by the people we want to help. We at ASC Direct are determined to continue developing our online presence. We’ve begun sharing our expertise in the world of packaging through our blog page and showing our newest and most popular products to those subscribed to our email list. We’re in the early stages of producing more content to show you the amazing box designs our own customers have come up with, and we hope to spark your own creativity through the upcoming relaunch of our social media profiles! It’s hard to say exactly what will happen in the days to come but ASC Direct has a history of catching trends right before they take off. We hope to continue that pattern for another 40 years and beyond.