Member Article

Growth is the formula for North East plastics firm

A County Durham-based plastics firm has achieved growth of 20% in the last year and has seen its turnover return to its pre-downturn figure of £1.5m.

Formula Plastics, based in Newton Aycliffe, has seen its business bounce back after a difficult time at the hands of the downturn in the automotive industry.

The firm, which manufactures a range of components for the sector, has said it will now diversify into new markets as a result of the upturn and will be recruiting a sales manager to boost sales operations.

This has been aided by a £100,000 investment from the Growth Fund.

Managing director John Suggate said: “The global downturn had a big impact on our business and we had to work extremely hard to keep things going, but we’ve seen a gradual market improvement over the last year and have been able to turn this into a stronger business performance.

“Because many of our competitors weren’t able to emulate our survival, we can now see a lot of opportunities to pick up additional contracts, and we’ll be appointing our first sales manager with a view to bringing new skills into the business and quickly expanding our customer base.”

Formula Plastics – which currently employs 33 people - supplies plastics components for Honda, Nissan, Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover through its relationship with Automotive Industry Tier 1 suppliers.

It also works with the Ford Motor Company in Italy, and is set to undertake a second contract with Volvo next year on a new commercial vehicle that is currently in development.

As well as its automotive work, Formula Plastics also supplies tooling and mouldings for other major company names including Thorn Lighting and Smithers Oasis, and is developing its offering in the electronics sector with a north east-based client that has interests in China.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .