A food packaging manufacturer has created more than 100 jobs and invested more than £2m after pivoting to created PPE for frontline NHS workers.
PFF Group has massively expanded its business over the last few months after winning a contract to supply 360 million disposable polythene aprons to NHS staff and social care workers.
The contract was issued by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and following the win PFF invested £2m into custom-built machines that allow it to produce the aprons much faster.
The company has also invested in four additional machines that will fold the polythene before it is fed into the apron manufacturing machine.
PFF is headquartered in Keighley, West Yorkshire, but has a major manufacturing site in Washington, Tyne and Wear, where the new machines are being installed.
The North East site has hired an additional 100 members of staff, who have been brought in for the duration of the contract, allowing the factory to ramp up production to 24-hours a day.
Kenton Robbins, group managing director of PFF Group, said: “We worked closely with DHSC on due diligence ahead of our appointment as part of the Government’s ‘海角视频-Make’ initiative to source PPE from Britain. Demand for PPE has soared globally, with 210 million plastic aprons needed every week in the NHS alone.
“In just six months, in the midst of a pandemic and while continuing to support the 海角视频’s food retail sector through the production and supply of food packaging, we worked in collaboration with the Hanbury-Autogil experts, to set up a new capability and capacity to manufacture disposable aprons. We have been able to design and build, two innovative, all-British machines that are the fastest and most reliable in the world, enabling us to significantly increase production.
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“We are delighted to be able use our specialist sector knowledge and in-house expertise to ensure the 海角视频’s need for PPE can be met during and beyond the pandemic, as well as creating job opportunities across our two sites in the current challenging climate.”
PFF’s new machinery was built by Devon’s Hanbury-Autogil.
Robert Hanbury, managing director at Hanbury-Autogil, said: “PFF approached Hanbury-Autogil with a challenge, we established that the business was seeking apron manufacturing machines that had a quicker output than the industry standard versions that they were using.
“The team at Hanbury-Autogil showed an incredible work ethic that led to design a machine that is clearly the fastest PPE apron machine in the world. We look forward to collaborating with PFF on future projects.”