Joining Orchid Plastics’ Managing Director, Paul Fairhurst, to the board is Geoff Stockley as Sales Director, Mark Stanley as Financial Director and Chris Sellars as Commercial Director.

The company has appointed the three experienced board members to handle the increasing customer demand, to develop the business, and to add expertise in the areas of sales and finance.

Chris Sellars and Mark Stanley join Orchid Plastics on a part-time basis from business consultancy service Mackenzie Spencer. Chris says, “We started working with Paul towards the end of last year, helping him look at ways to reorganise and restructure the finance of the business. Orchid Plastics is already a very successful business, with a great range of products that means it can easily trade internationally. We are excited about the potential global growth of its products and in addition we will be looking at business acquisitions in the sector over the next couple of years to broaden the service offering to the company’s customers.”

Paul Fairhurst, who has been in the rotational moulding business for 21 years, adds, “We are delighted with the new team on the board. This is a very exciting time for the business, we have a lot of great new developments planned and several large projects are underway. The long term goal is to secure our relationship with our key customers and to optimise production to build security for growth. Working with customers old and new, our aim is to provide excellent service and high quality products delivered on time at realistic prices.”

Geoff Stockley, Orchid Plastics’ new Sales Director, is no stranger to the rotational mouldings industry, having worked at two leading manufacturers in the past. He explains, “The opportunity to get back into an industry that I know so well is one that I could not turn down, particularly with potential that Orchid Plastics’ has. It’s hugely beneficial that I already understand the process, which means I can really hit the ground running. I am delighted to be part of such a strong team, and I am relishing the opportunity to play my part in ensuring Orchid Plastics’ potential is fulfilled.”

One of the leading companies in the production and design of high quality plastic rotational moulding and polyurethane foam filling, Orchid Plastics took on the manufacture of the Fairhurst Marine Navigation Buoy Range, which has previously been supplied to Trinity House, the MOD and many other large international organisations.

Orchid Plastics offers custom designed plastic rotational moulding products using the latest CAD technology and prototype modelling and has the ISO 9001 quality standard.

Our md Paul Fairhurst managed to catch this photo of the first 2 buoys crossing the Tamar Bridge from Cornwall to Devon.

The buoys are made from UV resistant  high density polyethylene with galvanised steel fittings.

seen here "fully dressed" with its lighting equipment and steel structures it will be deployed in september after the client has installed data collection equipment within the hull of the buoy.

we are also pleased to announce that we are now members of IALA - the International Association of lighthouse authorities.

Bob joined orchid plastics over 12 years ago and has been the major driving force behind the growth and sucess of the Orchid Plastics.

Bob has forged many close relationships with our customers and he will of course be missed from the daily hustle in the front office !

on behalf of all of the Orchid team and customers that have worked with bob we wish him a long and happy retirement.

apparently his garden is already looking better than ever !

The finished buoy weighs some 2 tonnes plus the ballast weight underneath of a further 2 tonnes.

The navigation buoy is being well recieved in the marine industry because of its rugged construction and reliability.

The modular concept means that buoys can be configured to suit the individual clients requirements.

All buoys are made from highest quality materials and produced under controlled manufacturing conditions.

The ‘easybuoy’ will withstand extreme sea temperatures, will not rot or rust and is available in a variety of colours including the unique ‘glow in the dark’ option, providing high visibility at night.

for further information please see  www.easybuoy.co.uk

The reason for the huge increase is the continuing high oil cost price plus worldwide shortage of ethylene and naptha feedstocks.

The market for polymers is quite volotile and we could see even further rises in the 1q and 2q.

we also note that the PPI (a Goverment managed producers price index) which tracks the prices of incoming materials to all manufacturing is showing levels of around 12% over the 2010 with almost 4% since November.

Will be working with our customers to minimse the impact of the changes but of course we will have to pass on the costs to secure own own viability !

The navigation buoys are manufactured by rotational molding using a special marine grade of Polyethylene resin for long term colourfastness and impact performance. The moldings are then filled with our special grade of Polyurethane foam to enhance the buoyancy performance. All structural steelwork is galvanised to marine standards.

Managing director "Paul Fairhurst" and other members of the marine division worked through the night to complete the first delivery which of course was achieved on time !

The new Polyurethane foam filling machine threw a fit because of the recent cold weather but the team perservered and the foam filling was finally completed.

Paul Fairhurst is seen here supervising the loading of the buoys which will be comissioned in the next few days.

Managing director Paul Fairhurst commented "The exhibition has produced a large number of serious enquiries that we will be following up in the coming weeks, it is rewarding to know that our new marine products division of Orchid plastics is off to a flying start"

The show has also generated enquiries for other rotomoulded products such as tanks for fuel, water and waste materials.