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WHS Plastics opens new £3.5m distribution centre
WHS Plastics group managing director Paul Nicholson (front) and group
sales director Andrew Kendrick at the new national distribution centre
WHS Plastics – a global
manufacturer of plastic injection
moulding products – has moved
into a new state-of-the-art 75,000
square foot national distribution
centre at its Minworth site in Sutton
Cold eld.
The company said the
investment will see 11 new jobs
created at the facility with plans to
employ more people in the future.
WHS Plastics has developed the
centre to provide an on-demand
logistics solution for customers,
which include major motor
Strong nancial performance
from steel mesh rm
West Yorkshire-based welded
steel mesh products
manufacturer Siddall and Hilton
Products put in a resilient
performance in its rst year since
a management buy-out in August
2019, seeing turnover remain
steady year-on-year, with rising
pro ts and a healthy order book
moving forward into 2021.
The company’s latest nancial
results for the year ending 31
March 2020, show that turnover
was £18.2m, compared with
£18.4m the previous year, which
included revenues of £470,000
relating to a discontinued
furniture springs manufacturing
operation.
Since the deal, the business
has seen improvements in
operating ef ciencies leading to a
rise in pre-tax pro ts from
£1.07m in 2018/19 to £1.49m
in the latest nancial year,
representing a 39% increase.
Founded in 1895, Siddall and
Hilton Products is the UK’s largest
manufacturer of industrial welded
steel mesh for high-security
fencing, general fencing and
industrial mesh panels. The
company processes around
20,000 tonnes of wire a year.
With a 50-strong team at its
West Yorkshire headquarters, the
company said it is seeing growing
interest from international
markets in its range of products.
Ian Thurley, Siddall and Hilton
Products’ chief executive, said:
“While the disruption of the
Covid-19 outbreak back in March
meant that we were closed for
four weeks, overall, the pandemic
has not had a major impact on
us.
“With our COVID safety
measures in place, we enjoyed a
busy summer and are able to
continue to operate, even during
the current lockdown.”
manufacturers, such as Jaguar Land
Rover, as well companies in the
industrial and electronics sectors.
The £3.5m distribution centre will
serve the rm’s UK and international
markets, replaces three warehouses
currently on the site, in a move by
the company to continuously
enhance the service to its customers,
grow market share and open up new
business opportunities.
WHS Plastics has put in place
the latest warehouse management
system, which manages the
stockholding and inbound and
outbound movements, as well as
semi-autonomous forklift trucks. The
centre has also, been tted out with
a new £500,000 racking system,
which will provide WHS Plastics with
an additional 35,000 square feet of
warehousing capacity to support
future growth ambitions.
Paul Nicholson, WHS Plastics’
group managing director, said the
current 15-strong distribution centre
team will continue their roles at the
new facility and it is also starting a
recruitment drive to support the new
operation.
Nicholson added: “The
development complements our hitech
and automated production
processes, thereby forming a key part
of our future growth strategy to build
upon our existing markets and open
up new opportunities for the business
going forward.”
WHS Plastics also has
manufacturing operations in Runcorn,
UK and Cairo, Egypt, employing
some 630 people. In the last
nancial year, the rm’s annual
revenue reached £60m and it
recently made 100,000 plastic visors
with Jaguar Land Rover in response
to the Covid-19 pandemic.
MTC takes delivery of Spot the robotic dog
The Manufacturing Technology
Centre (MTC) has taken delivery of
two robotic dogs as part of MTC
Liverpool’s Digital Manufacturing
Accelerator programme.
Spot is an agile robot that can
climb stairs and cross rough
terrain with ease.
Developed by mobile robotics
rm Boston Dynamics, Spot has a
fully customisable modular
platform. It can be recon gured
for a wide variety of tasks to
increase ef ciency and reduce
safety risks in the workplace.
The robots will be available on
an ‘open-access’ basis for an
initial 12-month period, to help
businesses across the
North West automate
their operations safely
and ef ciently.
MTC Liverpool is one
of the only organisations
in the world to make
Spot available to all
business sectors.
Joel Kellam, MTC
Spot the robotic dog
advanced research
engineer, said: “The
MTC is looking to establish Spot
as a source for good across a
multitude of sectors.
“The MTC has begun working
with organisations in agriculture
and construction to explore how
Spot can help to increase
ef ciencies. MTC experts will work
with businesses to adapt and
integrate Spot’s technologies to
apply automation in dynamic and
testing environments.”
6 December 2020, issue 1 - Machinery Classifi ed
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