Midland based Injection moulder expands with a £250K investment
Andel Plastics have seen steady growth over recent years, both with the trend of reshoring and acquiring new customers. However, Managing Director Helena Flowers says that the extra capacity requirement has mainly come from long standing existing customers. " We are coming to the final stages of some projects that have had us working closely with customers on new products to market, prototyping and testing. Now the final products are ready to launch we have manufactured the multi-cavity injection mould tooling and are ready to start moulding and assembly. The extra capacity that these three new mouldign machines provide still leaves us room to expand our customer base and products over the next 12 to 18 months. "
Andel have chosen to stay with their two preferred suppliers of Engel and Arburg for the new additions to the flock and represent a recent £250K investment into the moulding facility. With investment comes recruitment and this week sees the addition of four new local employees to the business as well.
This is not the only development at Andel Plastics this year, they are working in partnership with both Universities and Industry Partners to be able to offer 3D printed tooling for prototyping and low level manufacture purposes. 3D printed mould tooling enables them to reduce cost and leadtime in the prototyping phase of projects. Helena's view on the new service, "We have done a lot of R&D on the 3D printed toolign that we now offer and feel this is a real asset to our business and customers. We now take a customer from initial concept, design, 3D printed parts, modifications, to 3D printed tooling for prototype parts in our UK factory. Alot of prototyping has been done overseas in recent decades, but with Covid and supply chain pressures, we see more people wanting this to be done within the UK. Going through the prototyping phase with the same UK manufacturer who will go on to manufacture your Tooling and production parts, is by far the best use of time and expertise as no knowledge is lost between the stages. As we can offer all these services and are based in the Midlands UK we are finding it such an advantage at a time when customers are returning to the Made in the UK brand. I think all our recent projects have been completed for customers who want to source components from within the UK, with an increasing focus on sustainability."
On that subject Helena also discussed with us some of the projects that Andel Plastics are currently involved in to improve sustainability within her factory. "We are just at the start of our project map for sustainability and net zero targets. Our customers and potential customers are increasingly questioning our commitments to more sustainable material choices, processes and reducing wastage in both areas. It is something that we are working with suppliers, Universities and our Industry bodies with to ensure we make the right decisions with the greatest impact as we focus investment in this area.
Helena hinted at another new service coming to Andel Plastics later this year, so watch this space.