Droitwich plastics manufacturer breaks the mould with £1.2 million investment

A Droitwich plastics manufacturer is set to hit £10 million annual turnover after expanding its premises and investing new machinery, thanks to a £1.2 million support package from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.

Chess Plastics is expanding its current site at Berry Hill after buying a 16,000 sq ft property with 1.5 acres of land, in addition to investing in new machinery using an asset finance facility.

The new property will expand the firm’s existing facility by as much as 50 per cent with the new site handling storage and distribution, and the expansion will boost efficiency by eliminating any wait time for raw materials and will save the business £100,000 a year in storage and rental costs.

The new machine is a 1,000 tonne Borche BU1000 plastic injection moulding machine capable of producing plastic components up to 5kg in weight, and has state of the art software to allow optimised processing.

This replacement machine is expected to use 40 per cent less electricity, and will help reduce the company’s carbon footprint by around 128 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Gareth Olden, shareholder and Director at Chess Plastics, said: “When my parents founded Chess Plastics in the 1960’s, it was a small family operation with just one or two machines.”

“We have made significant investments over the last five years in the new plant, building renovations, training staff and implementing and updating our IT systems.”

“We’re 24 hour a day, five day a week operation with 17 moulding machines and 75 members of staff.”

David Chance, Relationship Director at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “This year is likely to be a milestone year for Chess Plastics and will see the firm hit £10 million annual turnover for the first time.”

“We look forward to continuing our work with the business, as it expands with future generations.”