Plastic Mouldings Northern Ltd (PMN) is an industry leader that ‘never stands still’. We caught up with Garry Thorpe, Northern Sales Manager, to find out more about the company that has innovation, collaboration and a can-do attitude at the heart of their operations.
Northern Sales Manager
What does your role involve on a day-to-day basis?
I’ve worked in the packaging industry for 18 years and have worked with PMN for 6 years covering the Northern region, each day can vary immensely depending on customer needs and projects.
I predominantly work with customers old and new to find the best solutions which can vary from bespoke to relatively simple packaging solutions. We stock a wide range of off the shelf products and for bespoke requirements we manage the design, prototyping and manufacture to ensure we deliver the correct solution for each customer.
How would you explain the Plastic Mouldings Northern Ltd Culture?
The culture that runs through the company is most definitely a-can-do attitude and is very much, show us your problem and we’ll find a solution. We never say no, there is no minimum or maximum order value, and we’ll always find a solution, even if it involves bringing in established partners for very bespoke projects.
The building of relationships is also a key driving attribute, these are built on trust and are a follow through of our can-do attitude that sees us finding the best solutions for customers.
How does this culture assist your clients’ requirements?
We have a positive attitude and work hard to find the right option which fits with the customer’s budget within reason. Innovation is a key driving force here and from bespoke to relatively simple solutions, if we don’t have the solution, we’ll source it or if it’s bespoke, we’ll project manage and manufacture the right outcome for the customer. This approach and tailored support ensures a host of benefits for customers from cost-savings to enhanced efficiency and productivity.
Do you have direct contact with customers, and get involved developing solutions?
Investment in building long-standing working relationships with customers is a vital part of my role. Many of these relations have been built up over the years in the industry and I have a core group of customers who’ll regularly drop me a line to source my advice and recommendations, when you reach this point it’s a real game-changer. It’s so important to build these types of relationships which are cemented around mutual trust, experience, and respect.
What makes Plastic Mouldings Northern Ltd unique in your industry?
Again, I think it’s the ethos that runs through the company, that innovation and thirst to find a solution, coupled with a commitment to building relations. Also, a really strong USP as a solution provider is that PMN are not beholden to any one manufacturer, so we can go across the world if needed to find the right solution for customers.
What solutions do Plastic Mouldings Northern Ltd offer customers?
The main output at PMN is the production of vacuum formed plastic parts, which sees the team supply high quality and often very intricate moulded parts to an array of industries.
Alongside the vacuum forming operation PMN are one of the UKs leading suppliers of plastic packaging solutions including euro containers across a wide range of industries. Storing over 100,000 products on an expansive site spanning 3 acres and 65,000 square feet of indoor storage, with efficiency and experience coming as standard. Alongside the euro containers we are also a leading supplier of folding pallet boxes, solid big box containers and plastic pallets as well as offering a range of accessories, including lids, trolleys and bespoke dividers, trays and inserts from the North East site.
What sectors do these clients work in?
PMN operate on a national and international scale and have built up a prominent reputation across the manufacturing sector globally. We work across an array of sectors from automotive, aerospace to the food industry and projects have seen us work with London Underground, McLaren, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, JCB and BAE Systems.
What are the biggest challenges facing Plastic Mouldings Northern Ltd and your industry?
Budgets can be tight across certain industries, especially in this current climate and it can be a challenge to encourage companies new to plastic and who are conditioned to use cardboard to invest in reusable plastic packaging solutions. On the ground the benefits of using good quality reusable plastic packaging are seen but not always higher up the chain when it comes to budget sign off. But we support the whole process and do the research and show the justification including payback times, the environmental aspect and present a host of other benefits, so decision makers have all the facts to hand.
Tell us about a recent project Plastic Mouldings Northern Ltd were involved with.
A recent project saw PMN work with Yorkshire Stainless Ltd (YSL) the leading stockholder of stainless steel Pipe, Tube, Fittings and Flanges, supplying all sectors across the UK.
YSL needed a solution to enhance the operations of their Kardex Shuttles, through the project PMN needed to utilise their innovative capabilities to supply lightweight plastic divider sets with the flexibility to have multiple configurations allowing a different set up in each tray.
We found a revolutionary solution which led to a host of benefits including the creation of over 120 divider configurations to handle over 100k parts, the pick rate reduced from an average of 20 mins per part to less than 90 seconds and a reduced number of industrial units needed from 8 to 3, therefore saving on rent and rates.
What new services/solutions are you offering for 2023?
PMN are always innovating and investing and the recent investment in two new 5 Axis CNC machines brings a host of further solutions. The 5 Axis CNC machine is a ground-breaking piece of kit with its large trimming size capacity of 4mx2m makes us quite unique within the industry.
It uses computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) to create 3D objects from plastic material, this can be used for a variety of purposes, including prototyping, product development and manufacturing.
Our recent investment in additional premises which took our site capacity to 3 acres ensures we also have the space and capacity to hold a lot of stock. This includes holding high quantities of re-conditioned folding pallet boxes. Ensuring we have immediate off-the-shelf solutions for customers, a vital resource, very cost-effective and quick fix for our clients, especially given import delays and availability that many companies are experiencing with other packaging suppliers.
Plastic Mouldings Northern
01388 777 700
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