Strategic Partnership between WMG and Thermotec Plastics Leads to New Client Offering Worth £1.5 Million

By WMG
schedule25th Mar 15

Birmingham based Thermotec Plastics Ltd and WMG at the University of Warwick have worked on a project together to develop a new product offering for the automotive and aerospace markets that is worth £1.5 million in new turnover for the business.

Thermotec Plastics, an innovative and bespoke supplier of engineered solutions in vacuum forming and polyurethane mouldings created a new composite material with impressive lightweight properties and WMG undertook a testing programme that validated the product for market.

The collaboration developed when David Rose, managing director of Thermotec was asked for performance related data for the new composite material by a key automotive client. Thermotec was unable to produce the data in-house as the testing equipment required was investment prohibitive. He therefore approached WMG’s SME Team at the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation who were able to undertake the testing through their funded Innovation Programme for West Midlands SMEs.

Dr Ben Wood of the WMG SME Team developed a testing matrix to satisfy all of the known performance criteria for the automotive client including the density and flexural strength of the raw materials Thermotec had used to create the composite. Testing was undertaken over a period of two months and resulted in a complete datasheet that Thermotec could give to any potential customers interested in the product.

Following completion of the project Thermotec was able to demonstrate the capability of its product with meaningful, technical data that resulted in new business with a very successful Midlands based, automotive OEM and some of their first tier suppliers. It has also led to Thermotec targeting a number of other clients in the automotive and aerospace industries with a potential spend expectation of £1M.

David Rose, Managing Director, Thermotec Plastics Ltd said:

"We are delighted to be able to get access to equipment and capabilities that we just wouldn’t be able to bring in-house. The team at WMG are extremely knowledgeable and helpful and other SMEs in the region should make use of the support programme they offer.”

Dr Ben Wood, Technology Transfer Specialist, WMG said:

"Thermotec Plastics is an innovative forward thinking company and it has been great to help them with this specific materials challenge. We have provided materials health checks, product development and manufacturing support for over 100 SMEs across the West Midlands since 2012 and the impact on the regional economy has been impressive.”



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