HotSeat – Gill Rice, Managing Director at Tyne Valley Plastics
With over 60 combined years of experience in the plastics industry, Tyne Valley Plastics Ltd manufactures customer specific plastic components which are supplied to companies across the UK and worldwide. Gill Rice has been Managing Director of the company for fifteen years after setting up the business in 2003. She is the next PlastikCity Partner to face the HotSeat…
What trends do you think will shape the future of UK plastics?
We have seen an increase in recent years of customers bringing their manufacturing back to UK supply.
How will Tyne Valley Plastics Ltd respond?
TVP have always been able to respond quickly to our customers’ requirements. We have invested heavily in both capital expenditure and staff development.
How has Tyne Valley Plastics Ltd developed during your tenure?
We started the business to supply low volumes of more technical parts as we felt this was a gap in the marketplace. We have developed our services to include product development, rapid prototyping and then on to volume manufacturing.
What do you credit as the key to your success?
The management team have a good solid technical background. We have also invested heavily in staff training including apprentices so that our knowledge is now being passed on.
What has been the greatest challenge in your career?
My greatest challenge to date is when TVP was flooded as a result of Storm Desmond. This meant we were out of production for 3 months and a complicated insurance claim.
What advice do you wish you’d had on entering the industry and does that differ from the advice you would give to an Apprentice joining now?
The plastics industry is a fascinating industry to be in with a diverse range of careers. We all need to encourage manufacturing in the UK . Remember that a majority of us are not making single use products, instead we are investing in the technological advancement that is keeping us ahead of our competitors in many different industries.
What hidden talents do you have?
Being a woman in STEM brings more challenges but being a woman in business means the ability to multitask and keep things going even when it gets tough.
Tyne Valley Plastics
01661 836 938
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