Sentinel invests £150,000 in two new machines

The arrival of the two XYZ VMC1010 CNC milling machines will increase Sentinel Plastic's milling capacity by 40 per cent.

It takes the number of milling machines at the 15,000 sq ft premises in Wrights Lane up to five.

Sales and marketing manager Steve Hill said that the company could now look to build its customer base.

"We are looking to move into new markets across the country. The bulk of our business is in the UK although we do some work for customers in China, India and Germany," he added.

Sentinel Plastics, which was started in 1989 in a 2,000 sq ft unit, was bought by current owners Lee Houghton and Simon Inston a decade ago.

"We specialise in making parts in plastic to customers' specifications.

"A lot of our work has been in making electrical insulation parts for wind farms in recent years," said Mr Hill, who has been with the company for 15 years.

"We can produce in a varied range of industrial type plastics and can produce in batches of any size - as much as 10,000," he added.

The machines from XYZ, based in Tiverton, Devon, were delivered on January27 and are in the process of being commissioned.

The increase in capacity will enable Sentinel to increase its 35-strong workforce.

"We have already taken on three apprentices in the last few months and we will be looking at a mix of apprentices and experienced people as we increase the workforce and grow our turnover over coming months," said Mr Hill. The company's current turnover is £2.5 million and with current and future investment in new machinery and jobs it is looking to increase that turnover to £6m by 2018.

Products currently made at Sentinel include guards, screens, insulation plates, bearings, clamps and scraper blades.

The company is capable of producing many other types of machined and fabricated components for a variety of industries.

Among the markets it has produced for are electrical distribution, food manufacture, automotive and medical.

It makes deliveries using its own transport across the Black Country and in Staffordshire, Birmingham and north Worcestershire.