Plastics company rescued

With a new team in place Omega Plastics will now concentrate its efforts on rapid aluminium mould making and low-volume moulding of complex plastic parts.

Three British engineers with a wealth of experience in the rapid tooling sector have pooled their resources and expertise to rescue the highly respected Tyneside, England-based Omega Plastics from the administration of the defunct Fitstogether Group.

The three involved are Chris Thompson, Chairman of the GBP 20 million Express Engineering Group; Gordon Styles, formerly of Styles Rapid Prototyping; and Dave Crone of Omega Plastics.

As well as investing in the business, the trio has raised significant finance to ensure that the new company is financially sound and in a position to invest in the people and equipment required to secure its future.

With this new team in place Omega Plastics will now concentrate its efforts on rapid aluminium mould making and low-volume moulding of complex plastic parts.

Commenting on the changes Gordon Styles, Omega Plastics' Managing Director, says "I was delighted when the opportunity arose to invest in the business as I had followed Omega's progress since it started in 1998 and have always been impressed by its quality and speed".

"In recent times Omega's offering had become diluted, so my goal now is to get back to the core product of rapid-tooling for complex parts".

"Our message to customers is simple - we make aluminium moulds and mould parts, we do it very well, and we do it very quickly".

"Our major advantage here at Omega Plastics is that the business is now run by dedicated engineers, and I think that engineers should be running engineering businesses".

"At Omega Plastics the engineers are now definitely back in charge".

Omega Plastics intends to return to its position as one of the UK's largest and most successful rapid tooling companies, an objective based on the skills of its master toolmakers.

Chris Thompson, Omega Plastics' Chairman, explains "I believe the success of any business lies firmly in the hands of its employees".

"All of the toolmakers employed by the new Omega Plastics have been with the company from when it was first formed in 1998".

"As part of our plans to grow the business we will be investing heavily in our workforce, developing our people and their skills, as well as investing in new and advanced equipment".

"Anyone familiar with my existing businesses will know that I have a long history of investing heavily to make them successful; Omega Plastics will be no exception".

Only three months into the new business there is evidence of this policy already, with Omega taking delivery of the first of its new high-speed machining centres from DMG, specifically designed for the manufacture of "rapid tooling".

One of those long-serving employees is Dave Crone, who now takes on the role of Operations Director: "Over the years we have made thousands of moulds and worked relentlessly to reduce the time it takes to get parts to our customers", he says.

"Our secret, if there is one, is that we assign each mould to a single highly skilled toolmaker".

"That individual talks to the customer, does the design, the engineering, and the trialing of the mould".

"Design is done on the shop floor in real time, not in some remote design office and then thrown over the wall to the tool room".

"Ours is a very personal service".

Omega Plastics provides a one-stop shop for rapid tooling and low-volume plastic injection moulding of high-quality, complex components.

The low-volume element is relative to specific industries and can be from a few hundred parts required in a crash test for the automotive industry to many tens of thousands for customers in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

Omega Plastics currently employs four master toolmakers and one master mould maker, with plans in place to increase these numbers in the coming months.

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