New management team sets sights on expansion after £120k investment

Following a £120,000 investment, a plastic moulding and toolmaking specialist has appointed a new senior management team.

Barkley Plastics says the funding will be used to increase its medical, construction and white goods and target international opportunities.

It already produces moulded parts for customers including Aston Martin, BMW Mini, JLR, Nissan and Toyota.

Matt Harwood has become its MD, taking over from his father Mark who has become chairman of the Birmingham-based company.

The former logistics and business development manager will be joined at the helm by operations director Steve Smith.

Harwood said: “There’s a lot of challenges to contend with, but also a lot of opportunities as we look to take our toolmaking capabilities and injection moulding expertise into new markets, not to mention building on the success of our own interlocking floor product ‘PlasFloor’ by bringing a new home and garden range to market.

“Investment is a big thing for us at the moment. We must explore ways we can be more productive and efficient to help us offset rising energy prices and ensure we deliver competitive products to our global customer base.”

Barkley Plastics, which is a founding member of the Manufacturing Assembly Network, has one of the largest tool making facilities in the UK, producing high precision tools capable of delivering 50 million mouldings for distribution domestically and internationally.

Employing 100 people at its Highgate factory, it can support its client base from design stages to manufacture and assembly.

The latest investment, which has been supported by WMG and the Made Smarter Programme, has seen the firm purchase six-axis collaborative robots that can work alongside an operator.

Smith said: “The focus is undoubtedly on strengthening our automotive partnerships, whilst at the same time using our two-shot moulding, injection moulding and toolmaking expertise to win complementary work in new markets.

“We’ve already had some significant success with this approach, with fire safety products exported to Eastern Europe and a new tooling project to help develop EV/Battery technology for agricultural and off-road vehicles. There’s even a project we’re doing to supply products for underwater boat lighting.”

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