Andel Plastics Ltd

Investing in the future

Andel Plastics Ltd — 15/04/2021

Having taken part in the Made Futures event recently, Andel Plastics have confirmed there ongoing investment in both the future generation and the business expansion strategy.

Within the last couple of months Andel have employed five new members of staff and an outworker. Two of these positions are trainee toolmaker positions, aiming to address one of the many skill gaps within the manufacturing industry.

Helena Flowers, Managing Director: "We have searched long and hard over many years to find suitable and enthusiastic candidates who want to train to become fully rounded injection mould toolmakers. This year we have been lucky enough to find two." with over 45 years in toolmaking, Andel Plastics is enjoying the upsurge in customers wanting their tooling manufactured within the UK. both by the trend for reshoring production or securing a domestic supply chain for new innovations.

Andel has heavily invested in their injection moulding facility over the last few years, adding more capacity which is quickly being taken by new customers and products. Next week sees the addition of another closed loop moulding machine, with the opportunity to recycle potential waste at the machine and improve production with a robot as well.

Helena commented that investment in both the equipment and employees was attracting new business and young talent to the company, securing the future whilst expanding with sustainability in mind.

Manufacturers collaborate to produce vital components for medical sector

Andel Plastics Ltd — 12/05/2020

Made in the Midlands member Andel Plastics and local manufacturer Total Precision has joined forces to produce vital components needed in the medical sector. These products will be used in hospitals to help test patients who may have COVID-19.

After receiving a request from NHS Chesterfield, Total Precision began work to start producing cupules for measuring devices used by the NHS. Total contacted another member of Made in the Midlands, The Warwick Manufacturing Group, who recommended Andel Plastics as they have a UK based toolmaking facility. Andel Plastics were able to design and manufacture an injection mould tool of the product, working over the Easter weekend to produce it and mould the first 10,000 components.

This opportunity has allowed both companies to reshore business back to the UK, as the products would usually be imported from America. However, due to disturbances in the supply chain, the medical sector has seen difficulty getting hold of the goods.

The product will prominently be used for testing patients for COVID-19, the cupule will hold liquid used within the testing process. Total Precision, who received the original order, has been working with scientists in order to produce the products and ensure they are made from medical grade material - a material without DNA traces.

As another collaboration, Andel Plastics manufactured Total Precision a face visor frame injection mould tool, in a record eight days. Total Precision is moulding this tool themselves and the face visor frames will be assembled with clear visors for the medical sector. So far they have produced 25,000 with an order for a further 15,000, which will be distributed free by their customer Liniar.

Andel are doing similar work by producing face mask accessories, so that frontline workers can take the pressures off their ears when wearing masks, they also plan to distribute these free of charge.

Both companies are also sticking to social distancing rules in the workplace to ensure the safety of their staff and customers.

Offering advice to manufacturers still operating, Helena Flowers, Managing Director at Andel Plastics said:

“We have to keep going, we have to keep the economy bumping along. Manufacturing has always been the backbone of the economy, I just hope that seeing what we can do in the UK, people will revisit their supply chains, keeping work here for security and because they have seen we can compete on quality and price.

The benefits of being part of a membership group like Made in the Midlands is that we are able to reshore business back to the UK by building relationships with like-minded manufacturers with huge capability. It also gives us the chance to share best practices and promote our services.”

Andel Plastics rejoins the MIM Family

Andel Plastics Ltd — 04/02/2019

Andel Plastics are delighted to announce that we have rejoined the leading Midlands manufacturing and engineering membership group Made in the Midlands.

Andel Plastics, first joined Made in the Midlands back in 2013 and benefitted from winning two awards and coming runner up in the Business of the year award in 2016. Supplying Injection mould tools, injection moulding since 1975, with the addition of a Class 7 Cleanroom and Ultrasonic Welding and assembly capabilites from their Tyseley based factory they are an award winning facility. Having not only won through Made in the Midlands, but also the Plastic Industry Awards.

A change in focus left them out of the membership for the past 2 years, but as Helena explains “I missed the support of fellow businesses and the networking opportunities that enabled us to make some important face to face introductions. Some of those introductions have now lead to working relationships with other members as both customers and suppliers. Meeting them informally first was a great way to get to know people and their capabilities, bounce ideas of each other, not being a member has shown how valuable these opportunities are. I look forward to seeing how things have changed at Made in the Midlands in our absence and meet some of the other new members."

For more information on Andel Plastics services please visit our microsite or website.

Moulder expands with three new machines

Andel Plastics Ltd — 26/09/2022

Midland based Injection moulder expands with a £250K investment

Andel Plastics have seen steady growth over recent years, both with the trend of reshoring and acquiring new customers. However, Managing Director Helena Flowers says that the extra capacity requirement has mainly come from long standing existing customers. " We are coming to the final stages of some projects that have had us working closely with customers on new products to market, prototyping and testing. Now the final products are ready to launch we have manufactured the multi-cavity injection mould tooling and are ready to start moulding and assembly. The extra capacity that these three new mouldign machines provide still leaves us room to expand our customer base and products over the next 12 to 18 months. "

Andel have chosen to stay with their two preferred suppliers of Engel and Arburg for the new additions to the flock and represent a recent £250K investment into the moulding facility. With investment comes recruitment and this week sees the addition of four new local employees to the business as well.

This is not the only development at Andel Plastics this year, they are working in partnership with both Universities and Industry Partners to be able to offer 3D printed tooling for prototyping and low level manufacture purposes. 3D printed mould tooling enables them to reduce cost and leadtime in the prototyping phase of projects. Helena's view on the new service, "We have done a lot of R&D on the 3D printed toolign that we now offer and feel this is a real asset to our business and customers. We now take a customer from initial concept, design, 3D printed parts, modifications, to 3D printed tooling for prototype parts in our UK factory. Alot of prototyping has been done overseas in recent decades, but with Covid and supply chain pressures, we see more people wanting this to be done within the UK. Going through the prototyping phase with the same UK manufacturer who will go on to manufacture your Tooling and production parts, is by far the best use of time and expertise as no knowledge is lost between the stages. As we can offer all these services and are based in the Midlands UK we are finding it such an advantage at a time when customers are returning to the Made in the UK brand. I think all our recent projects have been completed for customers who want to source components from within the UK, with an increasing focus on sustainability."

On that subject Helena also discussed with us some of the projects that Andel Plastics are currently involved in to improve sustainability within her factory. "We are just at the start of our project map for sustainability and net zero targets. Our customers and potential customers are increasingly questioning our commitments to more sustainable material choices, processes and reducing wastage in both areas. It is something that we are working with suppliers, Universities and our Industry bodies with to ensure we make the right decisions with the greatest impact as we focus investment in this area.

Helena hinted at another new service coming to Andel Plastics later this year, so watch this space.

Collaboration leads to Awards Finalist status

Andel Plastics Ltd — 29/09/2023

Andel announced as Award finalists in the prestigious Plastics Industry Awards

Previously award winners and finalists in several categories, this year Andel Plastics has achieved status of Finalist in a new category for Supplier Partnership as Toolmaker.

Having been recommended to No Fuss Fill by WMG during Covid. They worked together to perfect the initial design of the new gamechanging device for Dog enrichment which had been completed by WMG.

Assisting through the prototyping and consumer testing phase to gain the feedback that worked best to refine the final design before moving to the production manufacturing stage. The tooling for the five parts was all designed and manufactured by Andel Plastics in house in their Tyseley based factory. Able to offer cost effective tooling, by some components been able to be tooled up using a standard Andel bolster. Reducing the initial investment to get the product out to market.

Not only is the supply partnership based on toolmaking services, for which the award is based. Andel also assemble and package the No Fuss Fill device in house, providing a completed product ready for market.

Managing Director Helena Flowers said "it is thankfully an increasing trend for entrepeneur's to want their designed products brought to manufacture wholly in the UK. Working on this project has been a delight and being able to see it through from initial concept to full production is always a joy. The fact it has now taken us through to be finalists in the Plastics Industry Awards is really rewarding."

Investment in new services

Andel Plastics Ltd — 03/05/2019

Andel Plastics have announced the introduction of three new services after recent investment.

Although having a strong reputation for high precision quality production tooling. However, times have changed aluminimum tooling is more suited to prototyping and the lower volume projects. More moulders, have experience in caring for aluminium tooling, the tool life is also better than history might suggest.

In order to make prototyping even easier Andel have manufactured a standard injection mould bolster set in fully hardened steel. This will cope with a reasonable size of inserts, that can by made both cost and time efficiently in order to prototype a concept, or get into part production whilst waiting for a multi-cavity tool to be designed and manufactured. Having carried out the prototyping process, any lessons learnt in terms of gating or part design can then be carried forward into the production tooling.

With this in mind, there was also an opportunity to improve the design process of component and tooling by having access to a mouldflow analysis system. Though Andel have utilised mouldflow before, it was being provided by material suppliers, having an inhouse version was felt to be a valuable tool for all new projects at the component design phase. Last month Andel invested in the Visiflow software and are now incorporating this into all projects with a view of designing out as any possible issues as possible before tool design even starts.

Applied with our experience of both tool design and injection moulding, we are now able to subcontract this service to other moulders and toolmakers.

The third addition to the already wide range of services Andel offers, is the investment in an ultrasonic welding system. This furthers assembly capabilities of plastic components after moulding.

Please do not hestitate to contact us for details.

Toolroom open for NHS business

Andel Plastics Ltd — 20/04/2020

Andel are prioritising medical tooling for all customers

With many manufacturers closed during this time, Andel Plastics are pleased to confirm we are still open for business. With PPE and Medical equipment being on everyones lips at the moment, we have been honoured to be manufacturing and advising on tooling and moulding for NHS projects.

Last week the toolroom turned round a tool in just 1.5 days which will feed into the testing capacity for Covid-19 bringing the capacity up from just 30 per day to 2000.

We are now working on some tooling for an ear saver clip, this enables the mouth and facemask to be clipped snuggly behind the head, saving the pain and loss of skin some of our NHS and caring staff are finding. The clip was designed by David Moir of Star Rapid, who up to now has been 3D printing these himself free of charge. David has kindly let us take his design into injection moulding, we will be manufacturing tooling for these parts as soon as possible.

Andy and Jez, generous guys at Total Precision Ltd in Ilkeston, Derbyshire have offered to donate material for us to be able to manufacture these and deliver them out free to our carers and NHS.

We have been overwhelmed by the sense of togetherness that we have felt recently between people who we might reasonably consider competition in other circumstances. We have been able to offer free of charge mould flow and part design advice by our colleagues offering their time and easter weekends to make things happen.

We hope by doing as much of this as not for profit or free of charge, we are making our contribution to the fight against COVID-19. If you have any requirements at the moment that we can help with, then please get in touch and we will help wherever possible.

Woman who Achieves in Leadership nomination

Andel Plastics Ltd — 22/02/2019

Andel Plastics are excited to announce that our Owner and Managing Director Helena Flowers has been nominated for a Woman who Achieves in Leadership award, in partnership with the FSB.

"This past year has seen a lot of changes at Andel Plastics and Helena has managed the whole transition, with grace and a strong focus. The stress sometimes must have been overpowering, but she never stopped pushing, which is why we had to nominate her"

In the manufacturing and engineering industry it isn't often you find a sole woman at the helm, but Helena was born into this business which was started by her Father. "I remember dad's bridgeport machine in the garage as he was making tooling, then doing outwork for pocket money, before the teenage years of weekend working for going out money. I've been here full time for 22 years now and learnt all aspects of the business, I love it, each day is different and the bigger the challenge the more we enjoy it." Asked about her nomination she had the following to say. "Perceptions of women in engineering is changing, alot of the STEM focus these days is hopefully encouraging more girls into the industry and more respect from male peers. Though you do still get the occasion when you are only asked if you like the colour of the piece of the machinery they are trying to entice you into buying. I don't really see myself as anymore important that anyone else in the business, I can't do what I do without them. Having said that it is really a proud moment to have been nominated in the leadership category. We've had an interesting past year, lots of changes and new challenges to deal with, I'm blessed to have a really supportive team prepared to follow my vision for the business, 2019 is going to be a great year for us. "

The finalists for the Woman Who Achieves awards will be announced on International Women's day on the 8th March. We wish Helena all the best with her nomination.

Andel Plastics Celebrates its 45th Anniversary

Andel Plastics Ltd — 21/09/2020

Established in 1975, Andel Plastics has stood the test of time as it celebrates its 45th Anniversary this year. The family-run business started tool making from a domestic garage in Knowle, Solihull in the mid-’70s. Expansion over the years means it now offers a full service from design advice to production tooling and moulding from their facility in Tyseley, Birmingham.

In the beginning, Andel Plastics was a dream for current owner Helena Flowers’ father, Barrie Flowers, who began the business from their family home garage working on a sole Bridgeport. Barrie decided to start the company back in the ’70s after being Tooling Manager at established manufacturer Barkley Plastics, who actually supported him in setting up the business.

Though starting the business was difficult due to the infamous Handsworth riots at the time, the Flowers family were determined to get the company up and running and bought their first moulding machine in 1976. Helena’s mother, Andrea also began working for the business at this time followed by her grandfather George and her Grandmother Margaret who worked till the age of 72.

Fast forward to the future and Andel Plastics moved to a facility on the Klaxon Industrial Estate in Tyseley, Birmingham where they won the business from the famous Klaxon Horns on the same industrial estate. By 2010 they had outgrown this factory and moved to larger premises on the main Kings road. In 2014 Helena took over the business in a management buy out.

Now in 2020 Andel Plastics continues to build proactive relationships with its customers for the benefit of the partnership. They offer a full service from component concept feasibility advice, mould flow analysis, prototype tooling, through to full production tooling.

This transfers to their injection moulding facility for component manufacture and offers a full range of assembly services, post-machining and ultrasonic welding.

Developing customer demands over the years have led to requirements for more component design at concept point. Helena explained how challenging and exciting this stage is for them to be able to engineer out any issues at the early stage, ensuring the best quality product possible. Andel has invested in the ability to make prototype aluminium tooling and provide 3D prints to support this new collaborative approach.

After working in the business for 23 years and as Managing Director for the past 10 years. Helena’s aim is to keep the company going for the next 45 years and pass it to the next generation. She said:

“I love my job and I learn something new every day. This is vital to keep innovating in terms of reducing waste, producing quality products and keeping manufacturing in the UK.”

Award winning Woman Who

Andel Plastics Ltd — 17/06/2019

On Friday 7th June, Andel Plastics' Managing Director and owner attended the Woman Who Achieves Award ceremony as a finalist in two categories.

It is our pleasure to announce that she won the award in the category for Woman Who Achieves and Innovates through STEM.

It is the fourth year for the Woman Who Achieves Awards, in partnership with the FSB they celebrate all women in business with an aim to support each other and create role models.

Helena was entered into two categories for Innovates through STEM and Outstanding Leadership. Those who know Helena, know she is passionate about sharing her experiences and inspiring and supporting the younger generation into engineering. The week before the ceremony, Helena had taken part in a panel discussion at the Med-tech show regarding Women in Plastics.

"When Sandra started to describe the winner, I knew it was me, I was so shocked I could hardly speak when picking up the award." "It was such a surprise, as I'd never been to a Woman Who Achieves event before and I soon realised the calibre of women in the room. I decided I'd been lucky to get into the finals and relaxed into lunch. When my name was read out I was just stunned."

"Now it has sunk it a bit more, I realise what an achievement this was, all the finalists and their business journies are different and similar in so many ways. I know now why the network is so important and Sandra Garlick does such an amazing job to put it all together. I came away from the day feeling even more inspired."

Andel Plastics are injection moulders and toolmakers, with a class 7 cleanroom. Helena is the second generation owner, having been in the business for 22 years herself. Supplying a wide range of industries and from start-up businesses to multinationals, please contact us if you have any reqirements for our services.

Expansion and Innovation for Andel

Andel Plastics Ltd — 23/05/2022

Andel Plastics are starting their 47th year in business with an expansion, innovation and investment boost.

Pictured is MD Helena Flowers examining the installation of a new mezzanine floor to expand the warehousing facilities within the growing business. Installed by Amapola Ltd in just four days the expanded warehouse space will free up valuable space for the installation of new injection moulding machines. The first machine arriving in September will increase capacity on the smaller range of our machines, with a larger tonnage expected later in the year.

As for innovation Andel Plastics has been working on a new medical device, which they have helped take through prototyping, mould tool manufacture, moulding and into their newly validated Class 7 Cleanroom. Finishing the process with plasma cleaning, assembly and packaging prior to shipping for external sterilisation.

Discussing the project Helena told us why this project was important to showcase Andel Plastics expertise. "We got involved in this project during Covid lockdown, the customers R&D at a University was put on stop due to lockdown, yet of course they still needed to progress their product. Being wholly UK based, we could do the prototyping, DFM, design and manufacture the injection mould tooling inhouse. Progressing on to injection moulding the parts and putting them into a cleanroom environment to enable us to take the product up to the sterilsation process"

Having a UK based toolroom has been a big asset recently with many enquiries for reshoring and moving supply chain to the UK.

"Another area of growth for us is people looking at Sustainable supply chains, we can offer a full service in the UK. No need for all the environmental impact of sourcing from abroad".

Andel are embarking on a Sustainability and Clean Growth project to reduce consumption, waste and their carbon footprint. Their will be further news on two new innovative services that they will be launching within the next few months. Watch this space.

Manufacturing Collaboration Sees Success for Two MIM Members

Andel Plastics Ltd — 16/06/2021

One of the latest of many collaborations between Made in the Midlands members sees Andel Plastics and Yeoman Pressings Ltd having come together to produce a revolutionary new part.

Having been operating over 45 years, Andel Plastics are based in Birmingham, whilst Yeoman Pressings Ltd operate nearby in Wolverhampton.

This new product is a revolutionary part for power tool users, to function as a battery adapter. Manufactured by two Made in the Midlands members.

The “About” section within the Amazon listing reads the following:

“Made using high Quality materials and constructed using leading technology here in the UK, the Badaptor DeWalt to Ryobi battery adaptor outperforms competing products – and has been rigorously tested for shatter resistance and general wear and tear.

The range of Badaptor battery adaptors have been carefully designed to feature no moving parts, meaning they won’t let you down when it matters most. Careful attention has been given to ensuring a snug fit between the DeWalt battery and the extensive range of Ryobi power tools.”

This part enables someone with a Milwaukee power tool to use their battery on say, a Dewalt power tool, instead of having to buy specific and individual batteries at likely high expense.

The product was designed by the customer, alongside design input from Andel Plastics, to ensure a robust injection mould tool and quality product. The product has two metal terminals, which Andel Plastics place into the injection mould tool and over mould plastic to encapsulate them into the product.

Helena Flowers, Managing Director at Andel Plastics, recalls that she had first met Graham Yeomans (Director at Yeomans Pressings) at a Made in the Midlands networking event. Initially during this time, Andel Plastics had no requirements for metal pressings, but realised that “our approach to business and customers was very much aligned.”

“Working on building relationships and managing projects in a very customer focused way.” Continued Helena, “The customer didn’t know where to source the metal pressings from, so we introduced Yeomans as a recommended partner. They went on to help with prototype samples, manufacture the production tooling and now we are in full production with parts.

The Badaptors are increasingly selling really well, so this collaboration has been beneficial to both companies, and should we need similar products in the future, we know Yeomans will be our first port of call.”

Having been operating over 45 years, Andel Plastics and its sister company Maxmag Moulded Magnets are 2nd generation owned businesses. Precision and Quality is at the forefront of what they manufacture and their strong reputation is built on this and their partnerships with customers. Visit their microsite now to find out more and contact the company.

Helena Flowers appears in Leaders Council podcast alongside Sir Andrew Strauss.

Andel Plastics Ltd — 05/08/2020

Helena Flowers from Andel Plastics was invited onto an episode of a podcast for The Leaders Council of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Who are currently talking to leadership figures from across the nation.

Helena was thrilled to appear on the podcast with her cricketing hero Sir Andrew Strauss, saying that it was ashame in these days of social distancing they couldn't record in the same studio. Host Scott Challinor asked both guests a series of question about leadership and the role it has played in their careers to date.

Helena has been working within Andel Plastics for 23 years and took over the helm in 2014, this year is the businesses 45th year. It was shaping up to the be the best, until Coronavirus threw in some leadership challenges of it's own. You can hear how Helena has dealt with this in the podcast.

Scott comment that 'Hosting a show like this, where you speak to genuine leaders, who have been there and done it, either on national stage or withing a crucial industry sector, in an absolute honour.'

Lord Blunkett is Chairman of The Leaders Council and said 'I think the most informative element of each episode is the first part, where Scott Challinor is able to sit down with someone who really gets how their industry works and knows how to make their organisation tick. Someone who's there day in day out working hard and inspiring others. That is what leadership is all about."

If you would like to find out more about Andel Plastics, then please visit our website www.andelplastics.co.uk

You can listen the podcast on spotify or on youtube by following this link https://youtu.be/uTLmR7SgEy4