PFF Group has created 100 jobs and invested more than £2m in custom-built machines to manufacture Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for frontline NHS staff and social care workers.
The investment follows PFF’s appointment by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) to manufacture 360 million disposable polythene aprons to meet increased demand for PPE.
PFF began manufacturing aprons using existing machinery purchased from international suppliers but has now invested in faster machines manufactured in the UK.
Keighley based PFF collaborated with British machine manufacturer Hanbury-Autogil to design and commission two bespoke specialist equipment.
The ground-breaking, smart engineering machines are being installed at PFF’s manufacturing facility at Washington, Tyne and Wear, where the firm has employed 100 new staff, for the duration of the contract, as it ramps up 24-hour production at the site.
The firm is also investing in four folding machines from Europe to fold the polythene before it is fed into the apron manufacturing machine.
Kenton Robbins, group managing director of PFF Group said: “We worked closely with DHSC on due diligence ahead of our appointment as part of the Government’s ‘UK-Make’ initiative to source PPE from Britain. Demand for PPE has soared globally, with 210 million plastic aprons needed every week in the NHS alone.”