What would happen if your plastic injection moulder went into receivership?
30 December 2016
When an injection moulding company goes into receivership, the consequences can be devastating for it’s client base. With ‘just-in-time’ delivery and on demand moulding, the speed of reaction required to maintain continuity to the line can be extremely challenging.
Keeping the production line supplied is a ‘mission critical’ activity
When one of the fastest growing ventilation manufacturers in the UK experienced this issue, they had to react quickly – or risk letting their customers down. With ‘just-in-time’ manufacturing, when something like this occurs, time is of the essence. The vacuum created by the loss of a plastic moulding supplier has an almost immediate impact on the supply chain.
Tex Plastics were able to provide a rapid emergency response
Tex Plastics were the first company called by the manufacturer and they explained their supplier crisis and their urgent need for precision plastic moulding. Because of the huge variety of machine types and sizes within Tex Plastics, they were very quickly able to design a supply solution. Critical to this was the injection mould tooling, which fortunately the manufacturer was able to retrieve from the original moulder.
The new moulding production was carried out in an emergency shift
Tex Plastics run a two shift production but have the capability to run three. This is to meet unexpected spikes in demand. This is also comprehensively backed up as Tex Plastics have two plastic component manufacturing facilities; Providing injection moulding in the Midlands is Tex Plastics Derby, with injection moulding in the South West UK being supported by Tex Barnstaple. This emergency capacity ensured the shortest possible turnaround from receipt of the manufacturers tooling to the delivery of the product.
Manufacturing was uninterrupted and the transition was seamless
“When we first received the call from the manufacturer about their supplier, it was full-on into ‘solution mode’ – the whole production planning team focused on ‘how can we get this sorted’ for the client. It could have been a very difficult time for the manufacturer, with the potential for major repercussions for the supply of products to their customers. The reality was our excellent team here at Tex Plastics managed the transition from the clients insolvent supplier quickly and efficiently. With no deadlines being lost, and as far as we are aware, none of the manufacturers customers aware of the drama which threatened their delivery.”