This is Leicestershire --An industrial tape manufacturer has strengthened its operations with a multi-million pound investment in new machinery.
Advance Tapes has spent more than £4 million installing coating equipment at its plant in Pinfold Road, Thurmaston.
The investment will streamline the company's production processes and lead to an increase in output.
The company makes and supplies specialist adhesive tapes for sectors including construction, nuclear power and entertainment.
As well as the investment at the Pinfold Road factory, the business recently vacated its old premises in Abbey Meadows, Leicester, for a purpose-built factory in Westmoreland Avenue, Thurmaston.
The company employs 160 people at the two sites and at a French subsidiary near Paris, and had a £22.3 million turnover in 2012.
It turned over £21.1 million last year, but anticipates that rising to £23.4 million in 2014.
The recent investment means the business has also been able to give permanent contracts to a number of temporary staff.
Marketing manager Alison Ratcliffe said: "The largest investment programme in the history of the business is coming to completion – the installation of a £4 million-plus adhesive mixing and cloth coating line.
"We are just about at the stage where it is all up and running.
"The new custom-built line is just about to start operating now after a year of installing.
"It's vast, stretching from one end of the factory to the other.
"It means we can put all the raw ingredients for making tape into huge hoppers.
"The ingredients are mixed then extruded on to cloth to make a laminated tape or huge roll of tape, which we take half a mile down the road to convert into what people recognise as a roll of tape.
"It has fallen in line with the business celebrating its 50th year of trading this year.
"We have also been heavily investing in employees, having had our Investors in People renewed and recently 22 employees have completed an 18 month NVQ course in business improvement techniques."
She said the investment in training would help cut defects, reduce customer complaints and increase productivity.
Sales and marketing director Sharon Boyle said: "It's a really exciting time. The new fully automated adhesive mixing and cloth coating line has doubled our capacity for cloth tape production.
"We are already Europe's leading manufacturer of cloth tape, exporting 80 per cent of sales.
"This investment provides us a perfect platform for further expansion into Europe and allows us to explore global markets that perhaps were not previously in reach.
"In 2014, we're targeting 10 per cent growth." Reported by This is 16 hours ago.