Winning hand for NHS as manufacturer produces visor parts
A Barnsley manufacturer has invested a five figure sum in two new 3-D printers to produce parts for visors for the NHS.
Rollem, a print finishing equipment supplier, recently underwent a restructuring process which included the £1.25m sale and leaseback of its Tankersley manufacturing unit.
Wake Smith Solicitors in Sheffield completed the commercial property legal work for Rollem, which has a 38-strong team, allowing the £15,000 cash injection for the new equipment.
The funds will help the Wentworth Way-based business produce up to 500 parts a week for the visors, plus hundreds of buttons for protective gowns.
Stuart Murphy, managing director at Rollem, said: “Our day-to-day business is to manufacture top class playing cards for companies across the globe.
“Now, we are now turning our 3-D printers to making parts for the NHS. We are donating printing time and materials to the project.
“These two new printers will double our capacity allowing us to make 500 parts a week for the visors. Nationally, we are contributing to the demand of more than 200,000 a week.
“Our restructuring is making a positive contribution to the national response on this crisis.
“The initiative has picked up and we are contributing to the supply chain. We are now looking regionally at companies across Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham, to see who else has spare capacity to help.”
Rollem, which was set up in Sheffield in 1929, produces playing cards for companies across the world including household names such as Top Trumps and Pokemon, and has global contracts with countries including the USA and Italy for casino quality playing cards.
It currently has a skeleton staff of 14 working on site, with 19 others furloughed and the rest homeworking.
Stuart added: “Thanks to Wake Smith Solicitors, the commercial property element of the restructuring went smoothly.”
Laura Sanderson, solicitor in Wake Smith’s commercial property division, said: “We were really pleased to be able to advise Rollem and see that investment in the company is helping the firm provide crucial equipment for key workers of the NHS.”
