News

NEPPCO will be represented at this year's INTERPLAS exhibition. This being the last this century, is bound to be special. This event which takes place every three years, is the world's flagship international polymer event.

This special edition of NEPPCO news has been produced to mark this international exhibition and also to wish all at the exhibition a prosperous Millennium.

The NEPPCO Stand - No 3038 in hall 3/3a

• UMIST's new Process Manufacturing Research Center.
• NEPPCO processing companies offering compounding, injection moulding, extrusion, blow moulding and vacuum-forming facilities.
• Technical and quality management services.

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A European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant of £539,000 has been awarded to UMIST's Polymer Engineering Division, NEPPCO's headquarters. The grant is to be used to set up a new Process Development and Competivity Unit (PDCU). The PDCU will use the money and it's technical resources to implement product and process improvements within the factories of Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SME's) in the North West, in order to increase competitivity.

The PDCU will operate by focusing on increasing product quality and reducing manufacturing costs, and also by improving efficiencies in raw materials, capital, labour and energy usage.
Current manufacturing processes will be assessed to determine and prioritise the improvements to be tackled on an economics basis. Technological improvements will be achieved through on-line research and experimentation within companies, as well as off-line research within UMIST Laboratories.

While each process will be treated individually, the R&D is to be carried out within a common systems framework. This will provide a means by which in the future, participating companies can continue making their own improvements in a systematic way.

The new unit will be centered on polymers and chemicals, including bio-materials and recyclates, but will also address other sectors of SME process industries in the north west including food, drink, paper and fibres.

Any company wishing to apply for assistance from PDCU should contact:

Paul Hunter
Process Development and Competitivity Unit
UMIST
PO BOX 88
Manchester
M60 1QD

Tel: +44 (0) 161 200 3763
Fax: +44 (0) 161 200 3767

mailto:paul.hunter@umist.ac.uk

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With a growing number of business enquiries (up to 40% of the total being received by NEPPCO) as a result of it's web pages, plans to develop and improve the website are underway. Anyone visiting the site will see the German translation live on-line, which will support our export initiative to that country and beyond. NEPPCO already has an agent based in Germany, and an advert has been placed in a German business newspaper advertising the NEPPCO Website address.

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Bromsgrove Industries Group company Rotalac Plastics, a NEPPCO member, has completed the transfer of sister company Alpha-Tech Mouldings media packaging business, which is worth around £1 million, from Tamworth to it's production facility at Altrincham.

With the addition of the Alpha-Tech machines, £8 million Rotalac now operated 49 moulding machines including some large ones in the range of 350 to 650 tonnes.

An established supplier of PP video cassette cases and CD Pearl cases, Alpha-Tech arm of Rotalac is planning to launch a new PP DVD case later this year which features a special release mechanism that minimises deformation of the disc. It is also offering the option of in-mould labeling on all of it's video cassette and CD cases as an alternative to paper inserts.

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NEPPCO member Arrow Flexible Packaging Ltd. has just signed a joint venture with Environmental Polymer Group (EPG) to manufacture their new versatile, non-toxic PVOH said to offer temperature-controlled biodegradability and three to four times the strength of standard PE.

Arrow Flexible will shortly begin converting the material, initially into laundry bags for the medical industry and dog tidy bags.

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Pictured here are members of NEPPCO's Steering Committee, who meet on a regular basis to review current and future activities of the Consortium. The committee is currently analysing the results of recent Membership Questionnaire. The results will be used to determine NEPPCO's profile for the new Millennium.