UK Extrusion Manufacturing: Why Buy British?

Next year Condale Plastics will celebrate 45 years manufacturing custom plastic extrusions. As we head towards our 45^th anniversary, we reflect on our British roots, what it means to be part of the UK’s manufacturing heritage, and why businesses should continue to buy British.

Our roots in plastic extrusions

As a company, we manufacture all types of plastic profiles, tubes and sections at our factory in East Grinstead in the South East of England. Our extrusion tools are all produced in-house and, wherever possible, we source all plastic materials from within the UK.

Our status as a wholly British manufacturer gives us complete control over every aspect of product development and production from tooling design through extrusion to fabrication, and this control is priceless.

Maintaining ultimate control of the entire manufacturing process means we have absolute confidence in our extruded profiles, and it is this quality aspect we tend to focus on when selling ourselves. But with an increasingly competitive marketplace, why don’t more manufacturers like ourselves sell being British as a benefit?

UK manufacturing in boom

The Guardian reported last week that during November, UK manufacturers enjoyed a jump in demand that pushed growth to its fastest rate for more than two years and saw the manufacturing sector take on thousands of new staff. Furthermore, the manufacturer’s organisation EEF forecasts that the sector will grow faster than the wider economy next year.

News that the UK manufacturing sector is recovering will undoubtedly give UK manufacturers a boost, but company’s such as our own should not just revel in this positive news but use it as an opportunity to promote the benefits of British manufacturing.

Why Buy British?

In our opinion, overseas manufacturing is fraught with problems. It can have a negative effect on product quality, vastly increase lead times, leave a company unable to trace the source of its production materials, and have an adverse impact on product innovation.

In contrast, our customers can enjoy a wide range of benefits that emanate from our location in the UK:

• Personal, flexible service – whether customers are sourcing plastic extrusions from the UK or overseas, our 45 years’ experience manufacturing custom plastic extrusions means that we can respond rapidly to all technical enquiries – in fact, we love a challenge!
• Innovation – our ability to react quickly to new demands is such that we regularly turnaround new extrusion tooling in four weeks.
• Lead times – strategic stocks of key materials, our network of flexible local suppliers and our extensive capacity at our manufacturing site means our production lead times are very competitive.
• Environmental benefits – like most UK manufacturers, we score highly in the green stakes, since all processes and sites must adhere to strict European legislation regarding emissions and the environment.
• Cost – the rising cost of overseas labour and shipping means that manufacturing overseas is no longer the cheapest option.

Of course when making the decision to buy British, it’s imperative that Quality is put first. In terms of sourcing bespoke plastic extrusions that means selecting a manufacturer that has demonstrable experience in custom extrusion production and is accredited to ensure that your product and service expectations are met in the design, manufacture and delivery of any plastic profile, tube, or section you order.