Droitwich-based Chess Plastics, which specialises in plastic injection moulding, is set to reach an annual turnover of £10 million after expanding its premises and investing in new machinery — helped by a £1.2 million support package from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.

The company has bought an adjoining 16,000ft² property with 1.5 acres of land, which will handle storage and distribution — eliminating any waiting time for raw materials and saving the business £100,000 a year in storage rental costs.

The new machinery is a 1,000-tonne Borche BU1000 injection moulding machine capable of producing plastic components up to 5kg in weight.

This comes with ‘state of the art’ software for optimised processing and is expected to use 40% less electricity than the machine that it replaces.

Established in 1968, Chess Plastics (www.chessplastics.co.uk) is a second-generation family business that makes plastic parts for the automotive, brewing and construction sectors; it counts Jaguar Land Rover, Thermos and Scania among its customers.

Using an asset finance facility means that the company can purchase the new machinery without impacting its day-to-day cash-flow.

As a result, it will be able to increase its production by 6% this year, which should boost its turnover by 8% — from £9.7 million to £10.5 million.

Company director Gareth Olden said: “When my parents founded Chess Plastics in the 1960s, it was a small family operation with just one or two machines.

“We have made significant investments over the last five years in new plant, building renovations, training staff and updating our IT systems. We’re now a 24/7 operation with 17 moulding machines and 75 members of staff.”