Luxury bed maker Harrison Spinks, based in Leeds, England, has increased its hemp processing abilities with new machinery.
Matthew Butler, left, production manager; Peter Hoare, farm fillings line manager; and Richard Essery, managing director of components for Leeds, England-based Harrison Spinks, prepare to operate some of the mattress maker’s new hemp processing equipment.
The equipment investment follows a 32% increase in hemp orders over the past year, the company said in a news release.
The new streamlined process will boost the company’s weekly output from 3 tons to 9 tons. Hemp is one of the natural mattress fillings grown on Harrison Spinks’ 300-acre farm in Yorkshire, England.
The company said it designs, builds and installs its own machinery. For its hemp production, a new bale opener has been installed to help complete a formerly manual process, and a new high-tech machine tears and clean the bales. Also, a new step cleaner shakes the hemp and ensures any foreign materials are effectively removed.
“As the most vertically integrated and sustainable bed manufacturer in the world, we’re passionate about operating in a way that is as eco-friendly as possible,” said Richard Essery, managing director of components of Harrison Spinks. “Our dedication to sustainability, as well as our spring technology, has been commended by HM Queen Elizabeth II, with two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in Innovation and Sustainable Development.
“Our decision to replace traditional fillings in our mattresses with natural fibers demonstrates how we are setting a benchmark for the production of mattresses in the U.K. We’re constantly innovating and developing new ideas that will help us speed up and improve our in-house processes to ultimately change the way people sleep.”
