Custom thermoformer Thompson Plastics (Hull) Ltd. has moved into rotational molding with its 4.5 million ($7.3 million) purchase of a plant from T&D Industries plc. Hull, England-based Thompson bought the plant from T&D, a Bradford, England, company that was forced into receivership in October. The plant was one of two belonging to subsidiary T&D Plastech.
The Pontycymer, Wales, plant, near Bridgend, rotomolds interior cab trim and plastic fuel tanks for agricultural and commercial vehicles. It employs 74.
The plant, the biggest employer in a former mining village, has been renamed ARM Plastics Ltd. and becomes part of Thompson's newly formed Advanced Rotational Moulded Plastics division.
Senior management will remain in charge, and ARM will operate as an autonomous division.
The plant was part of T&D Industries' rotomolding and injection molding subsidiary, a producer of wheeled garbage bins, off-road automotive parts and chemical tanks. The subsidiary, which employed 170, also had a plant in Rotherham, England, and had sales of 17 million ($28 million).
All four of T&D Industries' divisions have been for sale since early November.
Both Thompson, with annual sales of 20 million ($33 million), and its new Welsh business serve the agricultural, off-road and specialty vehicle markets. The firms serve some similar customers.
Thompson molds exterior vehicle components such as body panels and roofs, and interior components such as trim, instrument consoles and dashboards. It added polyurethane foam products last year with its purchase of Borderfoam Ltd. of Ludlow, England.
The company also is completing a 2.2 million ($3.6 million) investment program, including the construction of a 54,000-square-foot plant in Hull.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers, which is acting as T&D Industries' receiver, expects to sell the remaining divisions by the end of February, according to Ian Stokoe, director of Pricewaterhouse's business recovery service.
The other divisions include T&D Automotive, which has two auto-bumper injection molding units in Luton, England.