Birmingham injection moulding and toolmaking company Barkley Plastics is investing £250,000 in new presses and robots.
The company, which employs 120 people at its Highgate facility in Birmingham, is currently celebrating 55 years of business. The increased capacity will help it to take on support new orders it has won in interior parts and lighting for the automotive sector.
The latest installation takes its total capital machinery spend to over £800,000 in the last five years and highlights the firm’s desire to move into more cosmetic and technical products that require a high level of processing accuracy.
The company started life when founder John Barkley placed a job advert for four toolmakers in the Birmingham Evening Mail.
In the 55 years that followed, the company has evolved its offer to be a strategic supplier to the automotive sector, whilst also building a strong reputation in the domestic products, construction, electrical and leisure sectors, not to mention producing 20,000 plastic baubles for the world’s largest chandelier - used at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
“Things have never been quiet over the last 55 years, but I suppose that’s UK manufacturing for you,” explained Mark Harwood, Managing Director at Barkley Plastics.
“We’ve already tried to stay one step ahead of what the customer wants, and this is reflected in the latest process that gives us additional capacity and production control to take on more automotive work. There will also be news of a ground-breaking development in injection moulding before the end of the year.”
Mark continued: “The £250,000 investment is a perfect birthday present for us and will immediately be put to use on supporting a new project that will see us manufacture a selection of small, high volume JLR parts that will go across its range of vehicles.
Barkley Plastics, which is IATF16949 accredited, also has one of the largest toolmaking facilities in the UK, producing high precision tools capable of delivering 50 million mouldings for distribution throughout the UK, Europe and across the world.
It can support its expanding client base with initial design and product development, right through to manufacture and assembly, with over 40 modern moulding presses – ranging from 5 to 650 tonne – able to produce the most intricate of components.
This was evident in the creation of a dedicated interior lighting assembly cell to mainly support a new project for the Nissan Juke, which has now gone into full production.