Ashby, Leicestershire, April 2012. Dan Jarvis of Plastribution has been promoted to the position of technical manager as the polymer distributor consolidates the technical support provided to both its customers and suppliers. Dan’s promotion to the newly-created role is in recognition of the comprehensive technical expertise he has acquired over the last ten years that he has worked for Plastribution, most recently as a product specialist for engineering polymers. He also co-presents the company’s training courses for processors and non-technical staff.

The new position of technical manager has been created by Plastribution to provide a focal point for liaison between customers, suppliers and its own sales and development teams.  As well as providing day-to-day technical support, including assistance in material selection and product design and development, Dan will liaise with suppliers on new material introduction and trials and ensure the company’s ongoing compliance with industry regulation. He will also remain closely involved in the provision of internal and external technical training.

Dan joined Plastribution in 2002 as a technical coordinator, quickly progressing to the position of product specialist for engineering polymers. In this role he was responsible for managing large volume accounts, technical support, product purchasing and stock control. Prior to Plastribution he spent two years on a KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) between Coventry University and packaging company Le Sac Ltd. of Coventry on the heat sealing of films for bag in box packaging, and worked for three years at a polymer testing laboratory belonging to Victor International Plastics (now Polyone). Dan has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in polymer science and engineering from Coventry University.

Plastribution is the UK’s leading distributor of plastics raw materials, delivering reliability, know-how and true business partnership to the world’s best polymer suppliers and its UK customers. For further information please visitwww.plastribution.co.uk or contact sales@plastribution.co.uk, telephone 0845 3454560.

Press release and image attached. For press enquiries please contact Andrew Wilkins on 01353 663350 or email:plastribution@plasticspr.co.uk.

Vistamaxx™ propylene-based elastomers have it covered

Ashby, Leicestershire, March 2012. The shroud for the latest Prioderm lice and nit comb is moulded from a polypropylene/Vistamaxx™ compound as proposed by Plastribution, the distributor of Vistamaxx™ propylene-based elastomers in the UK. As a result, the shroud offers the right balance of flexibility and tear resistance to provide durable ease-of-use, and can be produced more cost-effectively than with previous material alternatives considered.

Bob Martin (UK) Ltd of Yatton, near Bristol, is the manufacturer of head lice and nit combs on behalf of Meda Pharma in the Netherlands, marketed under its Prioderm brand. The latest comb’s unique double-ended design incorporates tines on either side – made of stainless steel and polypropylene (PP) respectively – with a main body also made of PP. In order to protect the comb user from the metal tines when they are not in use, a shroud, or cover, was designed to fit snugly over the end of the comb. Requirements of the shroud were for it to produce the right balance of rigidity and flexibility to enable ease of use (repeated removal from and recovering of the tines), yet durable and robust enough for continued use without splitting. Cost of manufacture was also a major consideration.

In its original form, the cover was moulded from a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). However, Bob Martin had concerns with initial mouldings that they would not provide the required tear resistance and were proving to be too “sticky” when removed from the tines – hindering ease of use.  Hence the company set about looking for an alternative material that would address the performance issues of the shroud as well as presenting a more cost-effective alternative. A call to Plastribution provided the solution.

Neil Dowling, technical sales representative at Plastribution, was Bob Martin’s first point of contact and was quick to identify the issues as ones that could be solved with Vistamaxx™ propylene-based elastomers from ExxonMobil Chemical. When used for polymer modification, Vistamaxx™  propylene-based elastomers can be blended with a variety of polymers including polypropylene to achieve the ideal balance of flexibility, transparency and impact performance.

In the case of the head lice and nit comb shroud, Bob Martin and Plastribution trialled different concentrations of Vistamaxx™ propylene-based elastomers with polypropylene before settling on a 40% loading. The selected blend provided the best balance of flexibility and tear resistance for the application and, versus the original TPE design, resulted in a reduction in part weight by 0.9 grams (due to the lower density of PP/Vistamaxx™ compound) and a more cost-effective alternative (the price of the new blend is approximately 20 percent lower than that of the specified TPE).

The Vistamaxx™-based solution proposed and implemented with Plastribution’s support was to the highest satisfaction of Bob Martin, as a spokesperson for the company confirms: “Our experience of working with Plastribution was very positive. At the time we were having difficulties getting our equipment to produce the shrouds with the right degree of ‘give’ and Plastribution provided invaluable advice that helped us solve the technical challenge and at the same time reduced our costs.”

Plastribution is the UK’s leading distributor of plastics raw materials, delivering reliability, know-how and true business partnership to the world’s best polymer suppliers and its UK customers. For further information please visitwww.plastribution.co.uk or contact sales@plastribution.co.uk, telephone 0845 3454560.

Press release and image attached for download and editing. For press enquiries please contact Andrew Wilkins on 01353 663350 or email: plastribution@plasticspr.co.uk.

The subscribers of European Plastic Product Manufacturer (EPPM), one of the leading resources for information on plastics technologies, have ranked Plastribution as the UK’s leading polymer distributor in a telephone survey. The company also picked up the Brand of the Year award based on feedback generated from the same survey.

The EPPM awards recognise excellence within the plastics industry by asking those who can judge it best – its readers. Contacting over 600 of the magazine’s subscribers in the course of its research for the awards programme, the telemarketing bureau hired by EPPM asked them to rank the names of companies provided to them in terms of preference. Each respondent could only name one supplier.

In terms of the Distributor category, companies were contacted who had indicated they use the services of a materials distributor. Of the 80 respondents, 27 voted for Plastribution as their preferred supplier from the list of seven distributors provided, constituting a 33% share. For its Brand of the Year award, EPPM asked a total of 180 of its subscribers to name a prominent brand within the plastics industry. Plastribution shared its leading position in this category with three other companies.

“We’re very pleased to present these awards to Plastribution,” commented EPPM editor David Gray upon their announcement . “The quality of its products, service and staff is talked about throughout the industry. They made a great splash at Interplas this year, with the unveiling of their new brand. The new slogan, ‘let’s make it work’ refers to the dedication of their staff to serve their customers effectively; dedication which has clearly won them the approval of the EPPM readership.”

Commenting on the dual award, Mike Boswell of Plastribution said: “To receive awards for both our brand and our service is highly appropriate, as we believe these two factors are intimately combined. We created the new brand to reflect the service we provide as a company – no gimmicks, just a grown-up brand for a grown-up company.”

An eye-catching new brand presence, the dramatic presentation of Plastribution development work, and an overall positive vibe in the UK plastics industry all contributed to a successful Interplas exhibition for the UK’s leading distributor of plastics raw materials. Principle feature of the Plastribution exhibition stand was a Lotus Evora, which was provided as a showcase example of the successful development work undertaken with Perei Group on its engine cover using the Evonik Plexiglas® Hi-Gloss NTA-1 PMMA material.

Plastribution also selected Interplas 2011 as the event at which to launch its newly-evolved brand, including its striking new logo. The event also saw the launch of two Plastribution ‘Know-how’ publications: -
• ‘Know-how’ magazine, which contains features on Plastribution, its team, products and suppliers.
• ‘Price Know-how’ is a monthly review of the polymer market including topical information on factors affecting polymer prices.

The Plastribution booth was located adjacent to the exhibitions lecture theatres and this generated interest from a wide range of visitors to the show. A large number of enquiries were received along with valuable contacts with new and existing supply sources.

“Overall we found the atmosphere to be positive over three days of the show, with a genuine sense of an Interplas revival,” confirms Plastribution managing director Mike Boswell.

Link to exhibition stand design

Ashby, Leicestershire, November 2011. Andrew Diamond has joined the UK’s leading polymer distributor Plastribution to take up the position of commercial executive within its direct sales team. The appointment of Andrew is part of Plastribution’s strategic plan to support and pursue significant opportunities to grow sales volumes in 2012 and beyond.

Andrew has over a decade of experience in sales and marketing with an emphasis on chemical and polymer products. Most recently he was employed by Distrupol as its key account & product manager for the north of the United Kingdom. His success in this and previous roles made him an ideal candidate as Plastribution sought to strengthen its own direct sales team.

“Plastribution is known in the industry for a recruitment strategy that selects only the best people to work for us, and that is why we have appointed Andrew,” comments Mike Boswell, Plastribution managing director. “He is a high calibre appointment who is sure to play a key role in achieving our ambitious growth targets.”

Plastribution is the UK’s leading distributor of plastics raw materials, delivering reliability, know-how and true business partnership to the world’s best polymer suppliers and its UK customers. For further information please visit www.plastribution.co.uk or contact sales@plastribution.co.uk, telephone 0845 3454560.

For press enquiries please contact Andrew Wilkins on 01353 663350 or email: plastribution@plasticspr.co.uk.

Ashby, Leicestershire, November 2011. With effect from 21 November 2011, Katherine White is promoted to the board of directors at Plastribution in her new role as product director. Her previous position at the UK’s leading polymer distributor was that of product manager for its range of polyolefin materials, a role she has held for the last eleven years. She is also currently supervising the company’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) supply chain management project.

Katherine first joined Plastribution in 1995 as a sales coordinator and rapidly progressed through the organisation to take on responsibility for managing its expanding portfolio of polyolefin suppliers in 2000. In her role as product manager she has also had recent responsibility for overseeing the management of the company’s direct sales team.
“This is a well-deserved promotion that reflects the outstanding contribution Katherine has made to the success of our business,” commented Mike Boswell, managing director at Plastribution, on the appointment. “Katherine is also Plastribution’s first female executive director, a fact of which we are proud as we believe there are too few women at board level within the plastics industry.”

Plastribution is the UK’s leading distributor of plastics raw materials, delivering reliability, know-how and true business partnership to the world’s best polymer suppliers and its UK customers. For further information please visit www.plastribution.co.uk or contact sales@plastribution.co.uk, telephone 0845 3454560.

For press enquiries please contact Andrew Wilkins on 01353 663350 or email: plastribution@plasticspr.co.uk.

“The decision was made after careful consideration of how best to meet the increasing demands of key thermoplastic processors in Scotland and the North East,” explains Plastribution managing director Mike Boswell. “The conclusion was that a sales team based within the business hub and with intimate access to key resources would be best able to serve the technical and commercial service requirements of customers in these regions.”

Following consultation with employees at the Larbert office near Grangemouth, operations will cease on Friday 18th November 2011. As part of the restructuring program, the roles of internal sales representative and customer sales representative for Scotland and the North East will transfer to the Ashby-de-la-Zouch headquarters. Brian Read, the company’s technical sales executive based in Scotland, will remain with the business. Despite the consolidation of its sales organisation, Plastribution will continue to keep extensive stocks of raw material in the Scottish and North East regions, thereby ensuring that customers can continue to enjoy a prompt delivery service.

“It has been a difficult decision to close the Larbert office and not one that has been taken lightly. However, it is important that Plastribution has an effective and efficient sales operation that is capable of meeting the current and future requirements of each and every customer,” concludes Boswell.

Plastribution is the UK’s leading distributor of plastics raw materials, delivering reliability, know-how and true business partnership to the world’s best polymer suppliers and its UK customers. For further information please visit www.plastribution.co.uk or contact sales@plastribution.co.uk, telephone 0845 3454560.

For press enquiries please contact Andrew Wilkins on 01353 663350 or email: plastribution@plasticspr.co.uk

Ashby, Leicestershire, October 2011. Lena Fleschhut, supply chain project manager at Plastribution, has received the CILT (UK) McKibbin Research Foundation Award 2011 for her paper entitled “Supplier Relationship Management: a measure to alleviate supply in an oligopoly market?”. As her prize, Lena was presented with a winner’s cheque and a certificate during The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK)’s annual Awards for Excellence Dinner held at the Marriott Hotel, London on 20 October 2011.

In her paper, Lena evaluated the supply chain of a distributor in order to be able to assess if supplier relationship management (SRM) can alleviate the supply situation in an oligopoly market. From her findings she suggests that the supply situation for a distributor in an oligopoly market can be positively influenced in the long-term if the distributor’s perceived dependency and value, and ultimately its relationship attractiveness, can be managed. This can be supported by initiatives such as strategic material evaluation and formal supplier relationship management.

According to the judges citation: “Lena argued with much persuasion that a supply chain requires an integrated procurement function that recognises the strategic requirement to positively influence suppliers so as to create sustainable and competitive advantages. Indeed in some instances these relationships are the distinguishing feature between similar businesses that create the leaders in their markets.

Whilst she argues that this approach is definitely required in strategic procurement relationships where large buyers are purchasing from large suppliers that form an oligopolistic market, it is also true for most companies who need to ensure that their strategic suppliers understand and can react to their needs.”

In her role at Plastribution, Lena is currently completing a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) as a graduate from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, where she gained a master’s degree in logistics and supply chain management. The purpose of the KTP is for Plastribution, a leading distributor of plastics raw materials, to better understand its logistic and supply chain activities and the value they can create for its customers and suppliers. “We expect that customers and suppliers will start to benefit from the improved supply chain capabilities resulting from the KTP project through both efficiencies and an improved service offering,” comments Lena on her research at Plastribution. “In particular we hope to be able to work more closely with suppliers to provide more accurate forecasting information which in turn will mean better consistency of supply for our customers.”

About the CILT McKibbin Research Foundation Awards

The CILT(UK)’s Annual Awards for Excellence aim to recognise achievements, encourage the highest standards and take a professional approach to the practice of logistics and transport. The awards are a way of identifying those organisations and individuals whose performance has been outstanding, a sign that they are leaders in their field. The CILT (UK) launched the McKibbin Research Foundation Awards in 2010. The awards seek to reward younger Institute members whose research furthers the understanding of business opportunities within its profession. In 2011, the McKibbin Research Foundation is acknowledging and rewarding the best of the younger managers who research the answers to some burning strategic questions that industry and their organisation in particular may face with the aim to provide an understanding of the problems and also as a guide to further business opportunities.

About Plastribution

Plastribution is the UK’s leading distributor of plastics raw materials, delivering reliability, know-how and true business partnership to the world’s best polymer suppliers and its UK customers. For further information please visit www.plastribution.co.uk or contact sales@plastribution.co.uk, telephone 0845 3454560.

For press enquiries please contact Andrew Wilkins on 01353 663350 or email: plastribution@plasticspr.co.uk.

Lena Fleschhut, supply chain project manager at Plastribution (centre), receives her certificate from Peter Hendy CBE FCILT, President of CILT(UK) and Transport Commissioner for London (left) and Steve Rinsler FCILT, Director of Bisham Consulting, sponsors of  the 2011 McKibbin Research Foundation Award (right).

Ashby, Leicestershire, November 2011. Plastribution is the newly-appointed distributor of co-extruded PO and high-barrier packaging films from KWH Plast in the United Kingdom. As part of the distribution agreement between the two companies, Plastribution is now in the position to supply KWH Plast’s new range of oxygen-barrier in-mould labelling (IML) films to the UK packaging industry. Their availability presents new opportunities for the industry to increase the shelf-life of perishable foods, improve shelf-appeal through enhanced decoration performance and replace tin cans and glass jars with lighter weight, injection-moulded packaging.

UK availability of oxygen-barrier IML films

First announced in October 2010, KWH Plast’s advances in combining barrier packaging film and IML film into an oxygen-barrier IML film are a result of the company’s experience and expertise in both IML and injection moulding. IML films hold a strong position within the overall KWH Plast product range, while the company is also a recognized producer of packaging films with various special properties. These include films oxygen barrier properties, attained by using special polymers such as ethylene vinyl alcohol (EvOH). The oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of films developed by KWH Plast ranges from 1 to 3 cc/m2*d (23°C, 65% RH). These are typical values needed to ensure the required shelf-life of most foodstuffs.
The new films are regarded as having massive potential. “This is a major step forward providing benefits in terms of both extending shelf life and excellent printing properties,” commented sales and marketing director Håkan Forss. “Moreover, their availability presents the packaging industry with an alternative to tin cans and glass jars with lighter injection-moulded packaging, leading to further savings in terms of resources and costs.”

Fulfilling customer requirements

Commenting on the distribution agreement with KWH Plast, Alan Moules, commercial director at Plastribution said: “We are delighted to add the range of retortable, peelable as well as anti-fog and barrier films available from KWH Plast to our distribution portfolio. As the recent development of oxygen-barrier IML films reflects, their expert knowledge of multilayer co-extrusion enables the creation of new interesting solutions for companies involved in the manufacture of food packaging. Moreover, their approach to co-operative development with its customer is in line with our own philosophy of innovation and making things work.”

About KWH Plast

KWH Plast, located in Finnish city of Jakobstad, is a leading manufacturer of plastic films and sheetings. Its tailor-made products are used worldwide by companies within the food, food packaging and label industries. The company combines profound knowledge with more than 60 years’ experience in plastic processing to develop new products that meet the demands of its customers. Approximately 90 percent of its products are exported worldwide through a sales organization that is supported by a well organized network of agencies and distributors.

About Plastribution

Plastribution is the UK’s leading distributor of plastics raw materials, delivering reliability, know-how and true business partnership to the world’s best polymer suppliers and its UK customers. For further information please visit www.plastribution.co.uk or contact sales@plastribution.co.uk, telephone 0845 3454560.

For press enquiries please contact Andrew Wilkins on 01353 663350 or email: plastribution@plasticspr.co.uk.

Caption for image (following page): Alan Moules, commercial director at Plastribution (left) and Håkan Forss, marketing director at KWH Plastics, mark the start of the distribution agreement.