Plastics & Rubber Weekly

The success of UK polymer manufacturers has been un­derlined in this year's Queen's Awards for Enterprise, with honours for seven companies in the polymeric materials and coatings sector.

Victrex, the world leading producer of the high-perfor­mance PEEK material, was a winner in the International Trade category, adding to two Queen's Awards it won in 1997 and 2002. Earlier this month, Victrex revealed further strong export growth in the six months to March (PRW14 April).

Other winners in the Inter­national Trade category were colourants companies Abbey Masterbatch and ColorMatrix Europe, Playtop (which manufactures rubber safety surfacing in playgrounds us­ing old truck tyres and shoes) and Ceramicoat Tunnel Lin­ings and Coatings. 

In three years Abbey Masterbatch's overseas earnings have more than trebled from more than 30 customers in over 15 worldwide markets. Michael Shirt, managing di­rector of the firm, said the company was proud to receive the Queens Award.

He said: "This has been achieved by a combination of dedicated hard work by all members of the company plus support from suppliers of raw materials and services, and especially from the export customers."

He attributed Abbey's suc­cess to keeping control of costs, offering quality prod­ucts at competitive prices and developing a close working relationship with customers.  ColorMatrix's overseas earnings have nearly doubled, representing around three-­quarters of total sales. The company makes liquid colo­rants and additives for PET beverage bottles and other sectors, and also manufac­tures dosing and metering equipment.

Two companies won awards in the Innovation category, fluoropolymer seals manufac­turer Precision Polymer Engi­neering in Blackburn, and E Wood in Northallerton, which has developed a polyurethane lining for rehabilitation of drinking water pipelines.

PPE was awarded for its Perlast G67P perfluorelastomer material. The polymer, which has high chemical and temperature resistance, is used for seals in semicon­ductor wafer manufacturing equipment and bio-analytical instruments.

PPE managing director Peter Cloney said the com­pany was delighted with the award and paid tribute to its "exceptional team of chem­ists and research scientists". 

He said: "Innovation is a central part of what we do. More than anything else, our objective is to create leading edge technology in materials for sealing applications.”

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