County Durham firm set for expansion with six-figure machinery investment

A vacuum forming specialist in County Durham has propelled its plans for expansion by investing £250k in new machinery.

Plastic Mouldings Northern (PMN), based in Bishop Auckland, has invested in a multi-purpose 5-axis processing centre to increase its manufacturing capabilities.

Founded in 2002, PMN specialises in supplying vacuum forming parts within the automotive, medical, defence and aeronautics industries, with clients including Bentley, JCB and Rolls Royce.

The new Biesse Materia CL gantry processing centre will support the firm with milling operations and for cutting three-dimensional elements in the car manufacturing, aerospace and nautical sectors, enabling it to grow its global client base.

The company has seen an increase in online sales during the lockdown, and has further plans to invest in a new 12,000 sq ft storage facility to help facilitate the growing demand.

Plastics Moulding Northern’s production director, Mark Rigg, commented: “We’re getting more larger jobs to manufacture, so we wanted to expand to increase our capacity.

“This CNC machine will allow us to keep our prices at the same level, and is part of our continued investment programme to remain competitive in the industry.

“It will also give us more flexibility and respond quicker to customers’ demands. Lead times are getting shorter and shorter within the industry, and customers are expecting quicker deliveries.”