Rubber firm looking to help food and drinks suppliers bounce back

A WOLVERHAMPTON firm which supplies rubber products is targeting the food and drinks industry as it looks to secure additional growth.

MacLellan Rubber, which has been in business for 145 years, has signed an exclusive deal with a European manufacturer to supply provide premium grade rubber to companies producing seals and gaskets for the food and drinks sector.

It believes the supply deal could be worth £500,000 to the firm in terms of new business. It has already won orders worth a tenth of this.

MacLellan is hoping to convince firms in the sector that the higher quality of the rubber makes it a more durable product than the cheaper alternatives often used in the supply chain by firms looking to cut costs.

The firm said companies which used the cheaper materials could leave themselves open to problems because of the strict hygiene standards which operated in the food packaging industry.

The new deal means MacLellan can trace all the constituent ingredients used in its rubber in order to comply with the current EU legislation.

Simon Winfield, director of MacLellan Rubber, said: “There has definitely been a decline in the quality of imported rubber sheeting from the Far East and Asia, which independent tests have shown to contain high levels of chemicals that leach from the material or are released when temperatures are raised.”

He said much of the cheaper material also contained ingredients not on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Association’s approved list.

“Being Food Safe is a legal obligation and manufacturers shouldn’t assume because the material they use is white or blue that it meets this requirement. They need to dig deeper into the supply chain and obtain the necessary documentation and evidence to prove compliance,” he said.

The firm, which employs 13 people, stocks more than 600 tonnes of premium grade rubber at its Wednesfield distribution centre.

New orders have been secured with clients in the UK and across mainland Europe.

In addition to its work with the food and drink industry, MacLellan also supplies customers in the automotive, power utilities, petrochemical, construction, engineering, marine, mining, rail and transport sectors.

Turnover increased by £200,000 in 2015, with plans in place to take this past £3m by 2017.