Protect, Package, Finish – ‘discovering app after exciting new app!’

Since we completed the lengthy process of merging Component Force into the Sinclair & Rush family of global manufacturers and distributors of plastic caps, plugs and sleeves; plastic boxes, clamshells and tube packaging; and handgrips - we have been discovering so many exciting benefits and new opportunities. Our world has become very exciting indeed.

It’s rather like buying a new phone...

We clearly spent a great deal of time researching the pros and cons of this over that before ‘purchasing the phone’. And yet, now we actually have the shiny new toy in our hands, we’re discovering app after exciting new app that makes life easier and opportunities greater still.

Component Force has become a new and exciting division of Sinclair & Rush. Let’s take a look at what these changes and new service apps mean for customers old and new.

Firstly, the opportunity to source protection, packaging or finishing products and components through just one point of contact is now greater than ever before. Frankly, if we can’t find it in over 300 pages of catalogued items, it probably doesn’t exist – but that’s not a problem. If it doesn’t exist, our combined experience and global resources will either source it, or design and manufacture it.

StockCap, GripWorks and VisiPak are global divisions of Sinclair & Rush. Now, Component Force is too. So, if we click (virtually) the all new Component Force app, what will we discover:

 

Here’s a small cross-section of what you’ll find: rubber and plastic feet; castors and wheels; handles and hand wheels; hinges and fasteners; tube fittings and tube connections; street furnishings and scaffold protection; locks and latches; fasteners; cable management and edging strips; the list goes on.

And if we (again virtually) click the VisiPak app… :

 

 

...we find even more great products to add to the ‘packaging’ side of the group’s ‘Protect, Package, Finish’ promise. Clear plastic clamshells protect and package products on display at point of sale; plastic tubing is ideal for mailing purposes as well as protecting and packaging ‘sharps’ such as needles for crochet enthusiasts and drill bits etc; and clear plastic boxes are tailored to size, delivered flat to ‘pop up’ and immaculately branded for point of sale perfection.                         

 

The range of finishing products is vast, with stock items available for despatch on the same day the order is placed. Product and components not held in stock are sourced to order. Our combined technical sales team helps to ensure that specifications are clear, deliverable and that the components will satisfy their intended application. Then our extended Customer Services department follow that order and support customers through to satisfactory completion.

 

We have managed to combine: 60 years of dip and injection moulding; long run manufacturing processes; short run flexibility; an extensive product / component range in stock and to order; procurement expertise and technical sales support skills; and an exemplary multilingual customer service record.

This means that 01622 693 200 becomes the only number you need to find cost effective solutions for Protection, Packaging and Finishing.

 

 

Protection, Packaging and Finishing

01622 693 200

Sinclair & Rush Limited – the story grows on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sinclair & Rush give a huge welcome to Component Force

We are absolutely delighted to announce a major new stage in the exciting futures of both Sinclair & Rush Ltd and Component Force Ltd. We have found the perfect fit in acquiring Component Force and welcome them warmly to the Sinclair & Rush family.

The merger of these two Kentish plastics manufacturers and distributors creates a match like the proverbial hand in glove - the corporate fit is textbook.

For those of you who don’t know, Component Force launched in October 2000 and has grown consistently over the years to the dynamic business it is today, with operations headquartered outside Rochester in Kent.

Their product range overlaps to some degree with that of Sinclair & Rush, though with notable exceptions. Both have an extensive collection of protective plugs, caps and sleeves; however Component Force deals efficiently with shorter volume orders, whereas Sinclair & Rush manufacture a combination of longer runs and / or custom dip moulding projects.

Hand grips can also be sourced from both companies, yet the options, volumes, applications, customers and manufacturing capabilities vary considerably. This means that customers now benefit from joint product / service opportunities, affording them an even bigger, broader, more cost-effective universe of plastic grip products to choose from.

Clear plastic storage, packaging, mail and point of sale products from our VisiPak division will be new to Component Force. Likewise, their ‘hardware’ range of wheels, handles, hinges and street furniture add a new dimension to Sinclair & Rush.

Component Force will immediately be able draw on our 60 years (plus) of global manufacturing and distribution, as well as the extensive plastics industry R&D to which Sinclair & Rush has been a formative contributor. We will enjoy fresh procurement skills and short run flexibility across a broader product range – and more besides no doubt.

“As part of Sinclair & Rush’s continuing expansion, we welcome Component Force into our family of companies.  We believe that their wide-ranging offerings related to product protection and component needs will greatly enhance our product portfolio and ultimately the customer experience”, said Brad Philip, President and COO, Sinclair & Rush, Inc., our US parent company.

Having merged, these two companies jointly present a cutting edge plastics manufacturing, sales and distribution business that services small to large customer product protection, packaging and finishing solutions across the UK and Europe - all wrapped in a business ethos following these two principles:

‘We are known for always striving to deliver great customer service’

            ‘Our mission is to leave our staff and customers feeling respected & valued’

31^st March 2014 – this is a very exciting day for us all and completes our vision of a corporate marriage ‘made in Kentish heaven’.

For more information please call Sinclair & Rush 01622 693 200, or visit www.sinclair-rush.co.uk

What’s in YOUR wellies?

Those of you fellow ‘Plastic Thinkers’ who follow these blog stories will know Sinclair & Rush as a formidable global force in the manufacture, sourcing and distribution of solutions in plastic to protect, finish and package your valuable products, components and works in progress.

Indeed, our new You Tube video is a succinct presentation of the same: http://youtu.be/x6jMsE-WF20.

Please, take a look if you haven’t seen it yet.

 

However, as you will have seen by the diversity of plastic plug, cap, sleeve, box, tube and grip applications covered in these stories, we are also known for our ability to create products to satisfy a huge variety of needs. Our 60 years expertise in the field helps us to think outside the box. After all, it’s only when you have the skills to make the perfect clear plastic box that you create the ability to think outside it.

Think wellies for instance. Welly key rings. Welly pen pots. Welly herb pots.

Touchline Promotions is a successful business sourcing and supplying some quite unique products for the corporate promotions  market. Many years back, Touchline approached Sinclair & Rush with a ground-breaking concept of dip moulding their promotional welly products. We made their idea a reality for them.

 

 http://www.touchlinepromo.com/

 

Take the herb pot wellies for instance; wouldn’t it be great to have your brand emblazoned on a pair of mini plastic wellies, sitting on the corner of your customers’ desks, yet changing daily as the herbs grow. Let them collect the welly set, with coriander growing on one side of the screen, pens potted on the other and their keys welly well ringed in their pockets.

Sharon in Customer Services and Jim in our Sales department have established a good working relationship with Fiona at Touchline Promotions. Special attention is paid to the batch packaging and delivery instructions which keenly reflect the need to treat the consignments as fragile so as not to cause deformation in any way.

We dip mould the boots in the colours required and Touchline brand the pots and key rings for their own client needs.

Also, possibly because of the vagaries of the promotions market with its seasonal highs and lows, we need to respond quickly to requests for additional product so that Touchline can add their own flourish when basil potted wellies become the flavour of that particular line.

The more we are able to listen to customers and understand the applications to which our plastic products are used, the better we can fit our solutions and service levels to the need. That’s why our Customer Services and Sales departments work so closely together, to make Sinclair & Rush customers as happy as they clearly are.

So, if you’re thinking promotions …think plastic wellies ~ we do.

http://youtu.be/x6jMsE-WF20

Put us to the test.

We work with manufacturing companies in the UK & Europe, who have problems protecting or finishing their products. We manufacture and supply solutions for this through a wide variety of plastic mouldings, caps, plugs and sleeves, which means they... or indeed you.... reduce the risk of damage or contamination, so your customers receive a top quality product every time.

 

www.thinkplastic.co 

 

Thoughtful Recycling – Observations and Action

It’s very difficult to ‘think plastic’ without also thinking about its impact on the environment.

The products we manufacture, develop and distribute have high content PET – polyethylene terephthalate and PVC – polyvinyl chloride, so clearly have environmental issues both in the manufacturing process (here) and post-use disposal, by our clients.

Sinclair & Rush are very proud of the outstanding quality of our protection, display and storage products and we’re also proud of the systems we put in place to manage and comply with waste disposal. Our Environmental Management Systems are fully ISO 14001 certificated and apply to everything with a potential environmental impact.

Office waste paper is recycled for re-manufacturing; toner cartridges are recycled to reuse suppliers; power use is measured and managed to maximise savings and minimise waste; and general waste is recycled to Local Authority regulation and standards.

Clearly though, by far the greater concern is the disposal of raw material not fully used in manufacture or created as a by-product of the processes of dip moulding.

As you can no doubt imagine, there are many national and international directives relating to the chemical processing and the safe handling, storage and transportation of the chemicals used in manufacturing our own liquid plastics and the disposal and recycling of waste and by-product.

Perhaps the most influential directive is REACH from the Health and Safety Executive. This acronym stands for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & restriction of Chemicals and is a European Union regulation governing the acquisition, import / export, transport, storage and handling of chemicals. This classifies Sinclair & Rush as a ‘downstream’ user of chemicals – which most manufacturing companies will be to some degree.

As far as the actual disposal and recycling of plastic waste is concerned, well that’s a huge subject in itself and one we follow closely.

Disposal, recycling and remanufacturing of PVC waste is an industrial learning curve of global proportion. As the need for product continues to grow, the need to find ways to effectively recycle its by-product and post use waste grows exponentially.

All of the plastic waste at Sinclair & Rush is collected by specialists for recycling and remanufacture. Technically our responsibility stops there, though our interest and thoughts do not. What does happen to PVC waste and how can it be re used?

The scale of the research to develop safer and more accessible recycling techniques is massive and the world is learning and improving all the time. Whilst landfill is still the authorities’ first port of call, we all know it’s a short term option in a heavily populated shrinking world.

Activity higher up the scale (above) has lower environmental impact, though techniques are costly and the recyclate needs a high degree of purity and pre-sortation at the point of entry. The biggest developments are in the fields of Mechanical Recycling and Feedstock Recycling both of which re-engineer the waste to useful purpose.

‘Feedstock’ (not what you give to cattle) is the term given to the raw materials used in the production of PVC – Carbon, Hydrogen and Chlorine. Through high temperature treatments known as PVC pyrolisis, useful feedstock can be recovered from the waste.

At 250-600C, the process splits chlorine atoms from the PVC waste when sodium hydroxide is added. This produces sodium chloride, or salt, which is used in many other processes such as generating chlorine for the production of new PVC. At 600C, the PVC chain breaks down to release useful hydrocarbons used instead of oil or gas, again to make new plastics.

Mechanical recycling (here’s an excellent (short) You Tube video that sums it up: http://youtu.be/xNNnP86N_kE)

Mechanical recycling takes the PVC waste through a process of pre-sortation, cleaning, cutting, chopping and grinding to create various grades of re-usable PVC pellets and powder. These are used to make pipes or in vinyl flooring where the colour and purity are less important. AA quality powder is a purer product used in higher quality PVC manufacturing … so the cycle goes on, reducing the environmental impact by prolonging the viable life of PVC.

Think Environment ~ we do.

Put us to the test.

We work with manufacturing companies in the UK & Europe, who have problems protecting or finishing their products. We manufacture and supply solutions for this through a wide variety of plastic mouldings, caps, plugs and sleeves, which means they... or indeed you.... reduce the risk of damage or contamination, so your customers receive a top quality product every time.

www.thinkplastic.co 

 

  

Opening Kent’s ‘Gateway to Europe’

It’s that time again when we digest the closing year (along with the turkey) and consider resolutions to enhance the business year ahead. Sinclair and Rush is no different and there will be much to share with you over the coming months. 2014 is going to be great for this ambitious plastics manufacturer.

Last month S&R’s MD, Peter Boulton, joined other Kentish businesses at the UK Trade & Investment’s South East initiative to help Kent manufacturers broaden their horizons beyond the Channel. Of course the concept is nothing new to Sinclair & Rush UK and Europe who already have a positive and expansive presence in continental Europe. Well, it’s only natural for an international company to have realistic international presence.

“Economic research consistently shows companies who export to any country, in any financial climate, perform better than those who don’t” said Lewis Scott, regional Director at UKTI South East, at events held in Maidstone in November.

Latest HMRC statistics reveal that the South East continues to be the biggest regional exporter, with the total value of exports for the first half of the 2013 from the region alone amounting to some £22.6 billion.

As part of its ongoing policy for growth, S&R are actively seeking sales and customer service representation across Europe. Linguistically, operationally, logistically – the skills and resources are already in place to facilitate enquiries and plastics solution to industry wherever they may be.

European Partners are invited to introduce their operational experience and business credentials, BUT, it is vital that they understand and share the strong corporate ethos that Sinclair & Rush stand by

 
“We manufacture and supply a wide variety of plastic mouldings
that protect, package and finish the products that our customers' make
so that they get to deliver a top quality product every time.
We are known for always striving to deliver great customer service.
Our mission is to leave our staff and customers feeling respected & valued.”

“We’re ready, in fact we have been ready for a long time and the time is right to get out there and do something about it” said Peter Boulton. “We couldn’t be better placed in Maidstone to take advantage of the rail and road links to Europe. And we couldn’t be better prepared for growth with our manufacturing resources and skills. River Medway traders have been thinking outside of the UK box for centuries. It’s time we took advantage of the opportunities our forebears opened for us, even before Turner painted this Medway scene from Rochester in 1822.”

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

from everyone at

Sinclair & Rush

 

www.thinkplastic.co

 

Cheers: for a finer glass ~ Think Plastic

Next time you watch the landlord pull a foamy pint of your favourite ale, spare a momentary thought for the plastic engineering that’s been part of the intricate brewing process – then order a bag of nuts.

There are many elements to the brewing process notwithstanding selecting the finest hops (plentiful here in Kent), malted barley and pure water. Then on to malting, milling, mashing, lautering, boiling, fermenting, conditioning, filtering and packaging. Each is important but perhaps the more crucial stages are the conditioning and filtration steps – these temper the finished quality, free of imperfections and biological contaminants. After all, who wants a foaming pint alive with contamination !

And – if you thought your glass of wine was simply a glass of rich, sun-baked hillside vines … think again: Wine is a product of microbial activity requiring a warm, food rich environment for friendly microbes to convert natural sugars into fine tasting beverages.

Unfortunately, a pleasant home for useful microbes is an equally hospitable hangout for any strains of wild yeast and bacteria gaining ingress to the fermentation vessel. And having arrived, all impart certain flavours to the beverage, producing signature wine faults that fancy-pants Vintners like to claim they can distinguish. However, whatever the flavour imparted, the general rule is these unwelcome bacteria all spoil wine, producing medicinal (think antiseptic), animal (think rodent cage or barnyard), or microbial (think yeasty and sour) flavours, all which are pretty nasty.

To combat these bacterial infections, Odour Lock uses cutting edge nanotechnology used in the medical industry to filtrate harmful bacteria from blood, plasma and bodily gasses. The result is Sterilock, the World's First Antibacterial Airlock.

Fitted directly to the fermentation vessel or seated on top of existing water based airlocks, it's patented Bacteriaex seal allows the venting of Co2 molecules whilst preventing 99.9% of larger bacteria, yeasts and other fungi from gaining access to fermenting beverages. Making it possible for the first time in Home Brew history to guarantee the exclusion of those 'flavours' from wines, beers and other alcoholic beverages.

However, enabling Sterilock's to be fitted to a diverse range of existing water based airlocks wasn't straightforward. As Richard Cook, Odour Lock's Technical Director explains:

“Finding an endcap of a size, shape and shore hardness (flexibility) to meet the design brief wasn't easy. It required the testing of numerous samples supplied by Sinclair & Rush until the exact combination was found”.

The result is a patented, low cost lid enabling the World's first antibacterial airlock to be fitted to virtually all existing 'S' Bend water locks.' A solution already reaping dividends as the largest distributors in the UK and Australasia place orders for Sterilocks and Odour Lock looks towards expansion in the US and the rest of Europe. As Richard further explains:

“Water based airlock's are used by Home Brewers throughout the world, making Sterilock an instant global product. A couple more lids may be needed to secure the entire global market, but by continuing to work closely with Sinclair and Rush we're confident there won't be a Home Brewer in the world that won't benefit from antibacterial brewing.”

Many thanks to Richard Cook, MD of innovative Odour Lock (www.odourlock.com), for this ‘good news’ contribution to our blog this month. I personally will treat my beer and this evening’s glass of wine with even more respect than usual.

Think Plastic ~ Cheers

 

Put us to the test.

We work with manufacturing companies in the UK & Europe, who have problems protecting or finishing their products. We manufacture and supply solutions for this through a wide variety of plastic mouldings, caps, plugs and sleeves, which means they... or indeed you.... reduce the risk of damage or contamination, so your customers receive a top quality product every time.

www.thinkplastic.co 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VisiPak - the cutting edge(s) in clear plastic tubes

Making jewellery requires a creative eye, a steady hand and a collection of intricate tools. These specialist tools are not only intricate but made to very fine tolerances for getting into, holding and shaping small and semi-precious components – no plastic here then !

Jewellery files and their intricate cutting profiles

Tools for Jewels (.co.uk) know all about this as they are a specialist business supplying amateur and professional jewellery makers with everything they need for their hobby, craft or trade. But it’s a competitive market with saw blades, frames, pliers, clamps, files, burnishers, hammers, tweezers and anvils (etc) being equally available from a dozen or so similarly named websites / suppliers.

So – Tools for Jewels decided they needed an edge and responded to Sinclair & Rush’s liberal invitation to ‘Think Plastic’.

Clear plastic tubes from S&R’s VisiPak brand with distinctive caps were the answer.

In his own words, owner Clive Rumble explains: “We are using the Sinclair & Rush clear plastic tubes and caps to market our files and saw blades, which will give us a substantial marketing advantage over our competition. We are designing and building a small stand to hold either the files or the saw blades in one place for easy selection, making a feature of our products on the jeweller’s bench.”
 

Protected and easy to select

Brilliant – not only are the files and blades protected in storage and transit, but the display and safe, easy selection value is being developed as an end user benefit too.

Jeweller’s files need to be protected, especially if they are being carried from one place to another.  Such files tend to cost more than normal files and putting them in clear, robust individual tubes protects them. With the exceptional clarity of the VisiPak plastic tubes, it makes them easy to store and select giving a much longer effective life to each file. The files no longer rub against each other and they are no longer exposed to moisture and other workshop contaminants.

Saw blades come in 14 different sizes which soon get mixed up in a jewellers tool box. Tools for Jewels will now supply their blades in individual clear plastic tubing selectable by size and safe from work bench contamination.

The VisiPak range of clear plastic packaging is extensive and varied with a solution for all possible and even probable packaging, display and mailing need.

Hang it, store it, post it – and above all see it ‘clearly’.

The diversity is enormous – shape, size, strength, flexibility, durability; and branding technology offering silk screen; hot stamping, offset and pad printing; with closures that flip, plug, hook, screw, shake; and shapes galore including round, square, rectangular, triangular, oval; all in practical sizes small, large, long, short; and everything available in colours to make even the rainbows turn green with envy.

Give yourself the marketing edge … Think Plastic ~ Clive did !

 

Put us to the test.
We work with manufacturing companies in the UK & Europe, who have problems protecting or finishing their products. We manufacture and supply solutions for this through a wide variety of plastic mouldings, caps, plugs and sleeves, which means they... or indeed you.... reduce the risk of damage or contamination, so your customers receive a top quality product every time.

www.thinkplastic.co