LVS Small Plastic Parts closes deal for car door handles

LVS Small Plastic Parts has started a production run for carboot storage containers and car interior retention hooks, forming around 300,000 components per month.

LVS will make the small components in PC-ABS, with grained `A-face’ finish.  The larger 1+1 tools will run on a Negri Bossi hybrid 800 tonne machine with automation.  The top frames for the containers are to be produced on a 380t machine using complex tooling with a total of 32 ‘up and aways’.

The client is a German car company with worldwide operations. Its British assembly plant previously received all its plastic mouldings from Germany or Eastern Europe, requiring full loads to minimise transport costs.

Simon Anderson, LVS Managing Director, said: “We will offer a stable cost (no exchange rate fluctuations), and we will use our fleet of vehicles to deliver product ‘line side’ twice daily on flow racks. As well as almost eliminating all stock holding for the client, product quality will improve. They previously had an ‘accepted’ level of fall out due to transportation and the very long storage times.

“We secured this valuable business by delivering a cost saving per part, reduced inventory levels, improved quality of product and a speed to resolve engineering changes that couldn’t be previously achieved.”