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Midlands Plastics Companies Win £2 million Worth of Free New Technology Support

Originally Published 01 May 2003

The University of Warwick's Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) and Rapra Technology have won £2 million of funding to help West Midlands plastics companies in their adoption of new technology, environmental improvements and waste reduction activities.

The new money will benefit small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) involved in plastics materials, processing and products in the region. The new European Regional Development Fund funding was won for the project by the Government Office of the West Midlands.

The initiative entitled Plastics West Midlands charges the partners, led by the Warwick Manufacturing Group, to undertake over 470 separate projects with West Midlands SMEs. Each of these will involve at least five days of direct support and will be provided free of charge to the companies who participate to help them in adopting new technologies, in materials and waste reduction and to further enhance their approach to environmental issues.

Qualifying companies must employ under 250 staff, must not be part of a larger group and must be located within the West Midlands Objective 2 region.

Warwick Manufacturing group researcher, and general manger of the new project, Malcolm Harold, said "This funding will help us work in partnership with local SMEs to give them easy access to the latest technology, eliminate unnecessary waste, and provide environmental enhancements"

Richard Walton, Marketing Manager at Faraday Plastics says that "other than being based in the geographical area, all you need otherwise to qualify is to be involved in plastics product design or manufacture and wish to implement technological improvement. No cash commitment is involved!"

To learn more about how you can benefit, contact Malcolm Harold at Warwick Manufacturing Group (on direct line 02476 572571, switchboard 02476 523949) or Richard Walton at Rapra Technology (direct line 01939 252463, switchboard 01939 250383).

For further information contact:

Malcolm Harold, Warwick Manufacturing Group
Tel: 024 7657 2571

HAROLD_M@wmgmail.wmg.warwick.ac.uk

Note for Editors: The University of Warwick's Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) and Rapra Technology are also joint leaders of the national Faraday Plastics Partnership