Plastics MD awarded top spot in STEM awards

The Managing Director of a North East-based plastics injection moulding firm has been awarded first place in an awards ceremony designed to recognise exceptional women in the STEM sectors.

Rice of Tyne Valley Plastics (TVP) based in Prudhoe, Northumberland, was crowned ‘North East Businesswoman of the Year’ in the NE Woman in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Awards.

The Award recognises an exceptional woman who has pioneered new discoveries and /or has been instrumental in bringing the benefits of those discoveries to market for economic and social impact.

The winner must have shown persistence and tenacity in pursuing scientific excellence of truly world class quality in academia or business. The judging panel was looking for a significant track record of discovery, research and development.

Rice, a Licentiate of the London School of Polymer Technology who has led the business to a 100 percent increase in turnover in the past year, said she was “astonished”, “delighted” and “thrilled” at being recongised.

“This past year has been extremely busy for us and I believe that being awarded the first class quality accreditation ISO9002 earlier this year has been the catalyst,” she explained.

“TVP’s turnover has increased by 100 percent so we have now introduced working shift patterns to ensure we meet our customer’s deadlines. It’s an exciting time for the TVP team and it is their enthusiasm and attention to detail – so important in our business – which has secured this accolade”.

Specialists in plastic mouldings, TVP, founded in 2003, is currently producing 1.5 million components per month for various multi-national companies in a multitude of sectors such as the oil and gas industry, agriculture, the Ministry of Defence, manufacturing and DIY.

The company was almost destroyed by Storm Desmond two years ago after high winds and heavy rain caused mass flooding and damage.

However, Rice said the “only way was up” after the cleanup operation had taken place and that it “hasn’t stopped since.” She also added that the rapid growth the business is experiencing will mean expansion and relocation.