Victrex to invest millions in new Polymer Innovation Centre in Northern England

UK-based producer of high-performance Polyaryletherketone (PAEK) polymers, Victrex, has announced it is to construct a major Polymer Innovation Centre in northern England.

Financial assistance for the project has come in the form of £1.3 million in grant funding from the UK government’s Regional Growth Fund, subject to satisfactory due diligence, which recognises the vital, rapidly accelerating importance of high-performance polymers in the global marketplace.

"Victrex is continuing to invest in cutting-edge technological leadership in advanced polymers," commented Dr John Grasmeder, Technical Director at Victrex. "Improved application performance at the same or reduced cost is a common objective that we’re helping our customers to address across industries. The aircraft industry, for example, is now embracing newly-developed technology for major cost and weight savings combined with accelerated assembly times. That's just one example among hundreds."

High-performance polymers based on Polyaryletherketones (PAEK), including Victrex PEEK, are increasingly being sought out for this and other demanding applications in industry sectors that include consumer electronics, automotive, energy and medical.

In a fast-moving market, which thrives on continuous advances in Research & Development, Victrex says the planned Polymer Innovation Centre will increase capacity to turn lab concepts – engineers' dreams – into real-world solutions and processes that can sustain mass production. The facility will enable the scaling up of new products and applications to full commercialisation for Victrex's global customers.

Victrex has always maintained a relatively large investment in R&D and says the Polymer Innovation Centre will sustain that theme. In 2014, Victrex invested over £15m, some six percent of sales, into its R&D programmes. The new investment, together with funding from the UK government´s Regional Growth Fund, will build on that record, while also recognising the future jobs potential for the north-west of England, where Victrex’s headquarters are based. The project is expected to help in the creation of over 80 direct and indirect jobs over the next 10 years and could ultimately see a total £16 million investment.

“This boost from the UK government's Regional Growth Fund is great news for Victrex, in enabling our company to continue pioneering the market for high-performance polymers well into the future," said David Hummel, Chief Executive of Victrex. "As a global world leader and major UK exporter, our past success and our future prosperity is founded on technical excellence and a world-class manufacturing capability. Whilst we are already a global champion, having the right technical skills is key to continued innovation for our customers across the globe."

Victrex’s return to double-digit growth in 2014, with sales of £253 million, was helped by a strategy that focuses on high-volume and high-value targets and utilises the company's technical excellence, marketing know-how and innovation across its five chosen focus markets of Automotive, Aerospace, Electronics, Energy and Medical.