Bristol jobs boost as plastics manufacturer Phineas Group brings production home – Bristol Post

A SPECIALIST plastics manufacturer has created five new jobs and secured a £100,000 tooling order after reshoring the manufacturing of six products to the UK from China.

Phineas Group makes plastic hangers for things such as shoes.

Managing director Dan Wright said: “We decided it would be ideal if we were able to manufacture more of our products in the UK to satisfy growing demand.

“However, we needed support in developing a clear plan for the future direction of the business and sustaining the new manufacturing facility.”

The firm, based in Hengrove, won a £100,000 grant from the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership’s Growth Fund – backed by the Bristol Post’s Going for Growth campaign – last year.

It opened a new 18,000 sq ft state-of-the-art plastic injection moulding factory.

But it needed more support to put its plans into action and get help from the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), which forms part of the Business Growth Service, after encountering some problems maintaining operations. Dan said: “We participated in a strategic management programme led by MAS, which brought our management team together.

“It identified that we needed to restructure parts of the workforce in order to ensure the right skills were in place to sustain and improve production.

“This resulted in the recruitment of staff for five new positions.”

MAS also help as the company sought to streamline production.

Dan added: “MAS helped us look at the automation of our assembly process, ensuring we had a cost effective way of running ‘lights out’ production.

“By automating our set up, we have been able to re-shore the manufacturing of six products previously made in China to our factory in Bristol. Off the back of this, we won a significant contract with a UK company in the medical sector.”

Nick Golding, business growth manager at MAS, said: “It is great to see a business bringing production back to the UK and enhancing the British manufacturing brand.

“With our support in developing a clear growth strategy, Phineas Group is successfully competing against a number of international rivals in low cost countries.”

Phineas Group has a turnover of £5 million and employs 14 people.