ARRK and Paintbox form new alliance for painted plastic parts

ARRK is investing in a moulding shop adjacent to the Paintbox facility in Kings Norton, Midlands - close to the heart of the UK automotive industry. The ARRK/Paintbox alliance will be able to offer a competitive one-stop shop with moulding, fully-automated robotic painting, assembly, EDI and logistics.

A key advantage of this Kings Norton setup will be the flexibility to accommodate many low volume derivatives of medium volume products, to serve the increasing trend of the UK tier one and OEM market.

The 40,000ft² ARRK facility, adjacent to the existing Paintbox painting site, is specially dedicated to house the moulding operations in support of the new £6 million robotised painting line investment of Paintbox.

The new ARRK facility will be refurbished and prepared, to initially receive six injection moulding machines from 80tonnes to 1,600tonnes, to produce small and medium sized parts with assembly and logistics capability. The facility will be ready for production in Spring 2018.

The new Paintbox facility in Birmingham came on stream at the beginning of 2017 and is the fourth fully robotic UK paint plant. Using the latest ABB Robotics and Eisenman plant, it is the first installation of Eisenman E,Cube Waste management technology in the UK and represents 30 years of learning for the Paintbox group whilst creating significant extra capacity for the group.

“The ARRK moulding shop is specifically designed to feed the ARRK/Paintbox alliance in order to provide design, engineering, prototyping, tooling, programme management, moulding, painting, assembly, and logistics, directly into our UK customers’ plants. The significant investment by ARRK and Paintbox has been supported by a strong commitment from our major customers and brings together all the skills and expertise of the two excellent organisations.” said James Sharp, CEO of Paintbox.

Tony Lowe, ARRK Europe’s managing director added: “We will be creating an even stronger alliance with Paintbox, involving quality, logistics, planning, and central services, to maximise quality and efficiency. In this way we will be able to present ourselves to our customers as a single organisation, whilst legally, remaining two separate businesses.”

This alliance will represent a strategic step for both companies by becoming a strong and multi-skilled partner for their customers, able to meet their changing demands, bringing unique solutions and competitive advantages, and a positive solution in the growing UK market.

www.arrkeurope.com