The new year has only just begun, but we’re busy back at work and planning for another 12 months of growth and investment in Advanced Materials and our customers.
Looking back, 2018 was a strong year for us, during which we comfortably met our sustainable growth targets. This performance gives us an excellent platform for achieving our development goals in 2019.
Advanced Materials expands silicone rubber manufacturing capacity in 2018
Our customers rely on the quality and precision of our silicone rubber manufacturing and our market-leading customer service. During 2018, we strengthened our industry-leading reputation, investing in our capabilities, processes, standards and staff, and as an ISO 9001-certified company, we passed rigorous quality audits carried out by customers across the industry spectrum.
In terms of expanding our manufacturing capacity, we invested in a new Iddon extruder machine, a new silicone mill for manufacturing compound and a new hotbox. The addition of the new extruder has brought the number of extrusion machines that we operate at our Littlehampton base to eight.
The decision to purchase our newest extrusion machinery from Iddon, a market leader with a long history of excellence and reliability in the sector, illustrates our commitment to high standards of silicone rubber manufacture and to providing our customers with the highest-quality silicone products.
Advanced Materials expands workforce and restructures management team
With regard to our much-valued workforce, we invested significantly in recruitment in 2018, expanding both our office and our production teams. We added to our expertise in customer service, toolmaking and milling and restructured our management team, with Gareth Coombes becoming Managing Director, Villeater Gladman appointed as our Technical Director and Jill Poore taking on the role of Office Manager. Bradley Blackwood joined as our new Operations Manager.
In addition, we updated our staff training system to reflect the growth of our team and ensure that our employees have the knowledge, expertise and support to provide and produce the consistently high standard of service and silicone products for which we are renowned.
Further manufacturing capacity growth planned for 2019
Looking ahead, to meet growing demand, we are planning to further expand our manufacturing capacity in 2019, with investment in two new post-curing ovens and two further extruder machines.
The addition of the former machinery will allow us to have independent ovens for different materials, such as platinum-cured silicones and peroxide-cured silicones, which will significantly reduce machine downtime and further eliminate the potential for cross contamination. This means our customers will benefit from even greater efficiency and better products.
Advanced Materials to upgrade IT systems and revamp online ordering in 2019
As well as investing in our manufacturing capabilities in 2019, we also intend to overhaul our IT systems, which will bring greater speed, flexibility and security to our processes. As part of the upgrade of our technology, we will revamp our online ordering system, making it easier for our customers to receive and process quotations and make repeat orders.
The year head promises to be another busy and productive one for Advanced Materials and, with the implementation of our 2019 sustainable growth plans already under way, we are strongly focused on investing in our company and our customers.
Want to know more about Advanced Materials’ silicone rubber manufacturing services?
Contact us on 01903 713566 or sales@amsilicones.co.uk.