Victrex invests in the future
POLYMER manufacturer Victrex has commissioned the first production stream of its £90m third Polyaryletherketone (PAEK) manufacturing plant.
The Lancashire company, which has 750 employees on the Fylde coast, said more than 1,000 tonnes of structural steel, more than 2,250 cubic metres of concrete and almost almost 30,000 metres of piping were used in the construction of the new facility at Thornton Cleveleys.
This and other recent investments have increased its production capacity by 70% to more than 7,000 tonnes per year. Alongside its PAEK resin capacity, the group has invested on its APTIV film, pipe, tape and now medical components, enabling it to differentiate from competitors by supplying complete solutions to customers rather than simply manufacturing materials.
Victrex said the new PAEK plant serves as “the backbone to develop core growth and future opportunities”. It has focused its development pipeline on a smaller number of larger opportunities. These include for example aerospace brackets, applications for mobile devices, orthopaedic knees and oil & gas pipes.
Chief executive David Hummel said: “We are continuing to move from being simply a materials manufacturer to a solutions provider. Our investment, not only in PAEK manufacturing, but in downstream capability, in know-how in technical excellence and research and development, helps to further differentiate our company.
“Already today we are able to fill gaps in the market by delivering semi-finished and finished components such as APTIV films or medical applications. With the third production facility we are in a position to offer sustained security of supply, which is, along with rigorous quality, critical to our customers.”
In February Victrex said it would be investing in a major polymer innovation centre, for which it received £1.3m from the Regional Growth Fund.
