BP&R sits down with Jack Baker, Director, and Daley Williams, Sales Director, at Plastech Solutions, to highlight their partnership with NPM, from entering the UK and Irish market and expanding the production portfolio to ambitious growth plans.
plastech solutions
[GD] How did the collaboration between Plastech Solutions and Plastic Metal start?
[DW] Plastic Metal – one of the NPM Group brands – approached us for the first time about two years ago. At the time, we didn’t know when it would be the right time to take the leap into injection moulding machine sales and service, but we knew we wanted to go in that direction. However, it wasn’t just about expanding our offering; we wanted to do it with the right technology and like-minded people.
Marzia Virginio contacted Star Europe and asked Giovanni Sperandio, the Export Manager, to enquire about the best agent to help them enter the UK & Irish market. Star Automation pointed NPM to us. We travelled to Italy to meet the team and see how their business functioned. Most importantly, we wanted to look closer at NPM’s USP and build quality. It felt right and comfortable from the beginning, and so the collaboration started.
[GD] What drew you to Plastic Metal?
[JB] It needed to be a product that differentiated us from other machine suppliers. Plastic Metal’s range includes machines with a 5-point toggle and 2-platen technology with clamp forces ranging from 50 to 3,200 tons. We can offer the former with any axis in electric or hydraulic, meaning customers can benefit from a machine perfectly configured to suit an application sector.
For example, a packaging machine will benefit from faster injection speeds for high-flow length to wall thickness ratio parts. Faster injection keeps the melt front moving for optimum part quality. The choice of electric ball-screw drive or hydraulic cylinders is available for all machine movements. On the other hand, the technical moulding sector benefits from all-electric machines but still requires hydraulics for complex moulds where cores and slides are fitted. This proves that one technology could benefit more than the other.
We can specify the best machine at the lowest price and run customers’ moulds perfectly, offering optimum performance, quality, reliability and reduced running costs. Plus, Plastic Metal has a modern facility just outside Verona, Italy, which enables us to travel there on economy airlines often and cost-effectively.
[GD] How does your partnership with NPM, along with the other companies, complement Plastech’s offering?
[DW] At Plastech, we want to be flexible and work with other suppliers in the industry. If it’s an NPM machine order but the customer orders a different mould and robot automation other than Star or Enelkon, we’ll work with anyone with confidentiality and integrity. The plastics industry is small; everyone knows everyone, so collaborating with other machine suppliers where we work only with our automation or mould maker brands is an important part of our business. We’ve been representing NPM for three months and have placed several orders already, so we’re confident to continue in this direction.
[JB] We’ve recently partnered with Enelkon, a Turkish high-end automation company that perfectly complements STAR Automation. The latter focuses predominantly on Cartesian robots, while Enelkon offers added benefits like high speed and more complex downstream IML automation with post-handling technology. Customers nowadays want full turnkey solutions, which Plastech can offer. They can order a moulding machine from NPM, tooling from Abate, Futura or Sea Stampi, a robot from STAR or Enelkon and do a one-stop shop before delivery. They can also get vision inspection from Intravis and automation for high-end medical applications from BFA Automation. If a project needs conveyors or granulators, NPM manufactures ancillary equipment in their Fratelli Virginio factory.
[GD] What sets Plastech’s product portfolio apart from your competitors?
[JB] Our customers can benefit from electric or hydraulic technology, which matters. Many companies automatically default to all-electric machines, but it’s not always the best option. If you incorporate a smart-drive system into a hydraulic system, you’ll get similar running costs as an all-electric machine. NPM offers all-electric while also continuing to sell hydraulic machinery and everything in between. It’s an advantage in terms of capital cost, cost of ownership and maintenance/repair.
[DW] Once we decided to represent a machine supplier, we had a choice and settled on NPM. The fact that it was a choice is important because we were looking for a differentiator in machine technology rather than simply picking another Chinese brand. We were fortunate and picked a European brand to partner with.
[GD] Co-injection is an important component of Plastic Metal’s technologies. What benefits does it offer from a sustainability standpoint?
[JB] Plastic Metal has patents in the plasticising area that give co-injection more accurate control when switching from barrel 1 to barrel 2. You can apply it to some existing tooling, where you can fill the product’s centre with PCR. What looks like a virgin material-made product is filled with PCR. This is a game-changer from a sustainability standpoint, especially in food containers with high packaging taxes and many technical moulded products.
[GD] What’s next for Plastech?
[JB] We own our facility in Tamworth, which has given us additional security and flexibility. The next step is taking another unit where we’ll set up a demonstration and training centre. This is so we can offer local product trials and on-site customer training. The fact that it’s a European provider allows us to have everything at our fingertips. Customers can hop on a quick flight for trials or training in Italy, and we can easily ship customer mould tools over to Italy, so that we can choose the best machine for the trial.
[DW] I hope the partnership with NPM will continue to promote Plastech as a recognised and serious contender in the industry. This is how we want to try and build the business going forward, and the market’s there for us. NPM is really committed to the UK plastics industry, which shows in their Interplas 2026 stand. They’re ready to expand their presence here, and Interplas will be the springboard for this.