Lancashire-based plastic injection moulding specialist, MGS Technical Plastics, has teamed up with artist, Robyn Woolston, to create a unique work of art celebrating the role of injection moulding, for the National Festival of Making.
Taking place in Blackburn on 6-7 May, the festival will showcase the best of the town's manufacturing industry - a sector which plays a vital role in the local economy, employing twice the national average of its population.
Samantha Taylor, marketing manager at MGS Technical Plastics, said: "We're very excited to have this opportunity to promote the town and to share what we do. Many people don't realise the massive range of items that they use every day which are injection moulded, and so this is also a great way to raise awareness of plastics in general.”
MGS aims to demonstrate to the local population how it serves a global market, designing, developing, manufacturing, assembling and distributing plastic parts for customers which include Rentokil Initial, British Gas and Marks & Spencer.
Ms Taylor added: "We want to engage with young people about manufacturing and help to inspire them to join our industry. And as a Blackburn manufacturer, we wanted our staff to get involved with a great community project and to tell our great story."
The artwork will address the topic of unseen waste as a bi-product of industrial fabrication; every piece of plastic used will be reground and reused by the manufacturing team.
The piece will be created using the ‘sprue', a piece of excess plastic removed from an injection moulded part, and ‘purge', molten plastic forced from an injection moulding machine at the end of a colour run.