A Look Back at 2019 and What’s in Store for 2020

It’s been a busy and exciting year for us here at Orthoplastics and we’d like to thank all our loyal customers for their continued support and take the opportunity to welcome new customers that have come on board.

During 2019 we have achieved many great things and our continued growth has positioned us well for 2020 and beyond. From encouraging females into engineering through employment, work experience and apprenticeship opportunities to continued staff development and collaboration opportunities.

Here are some key highlights of our achievements in 2019:

● We reached 200 employees during the summer and plan to continue recruiting.

● Our Managing Director, Mark Allen had the honour of giving a keynote speech at the 9th Annual UHMWPE Conference.

● 4 Engineering Apprentices joined Orthoplastics and began college courses in September.

● All 39 employees who attended the Highfield Level 2 Award in Health and Safety within the Workplace achieved a Pass, with 3 attendees achieving 100% in the exam.

● We began talks with Lancaster University to explore the potential for setting up a long-term collaborative partnership.

● We began rolling out Lean training across the business to all employees to ensure everyone has a good baseline understanding of dealing with challenges in the leanest manner.

Looking Ahead to 2020

As 2019 draws to a close, we look ahead to 2020 and the exciting developments we have planned. The first quarter of 2020 will see the opening of an additional manufacturing facility in the UK, set to open in February 2020, the new building will enable us to increase our market capabilities with over £5 million of investment annually.

The new facility at the Futures Business Park Development in Rossendale will fast become a centre of excellence for our business and a launch pad for our extensive global growth plans to support plans to be the world-leader in polymeric solutions.

Mark Allen, Managing Director, Orthoplastics said: “This significant investment underlines our belief that there is huge potential for innovation and growth within the Orthopaedic sector. It is also the next step towards achieving our ambition of pioneering improved patient outcomes and the longevity of implantable medical devices.”

The expansion is expected to create around 100 new jobs within the local community and is fully supported by our US parent company, Viant Inc.

Supporting our business expansion, we have also been quality planning ahead for 2020. Our teams have been thinking about all aspects of quality within a new manufacturing area. By forward planning, we are ensuring that our Quality Management System is at the forefront of our plans for Orthoplastics expansion.

We are in the process of validating our Quality management software, by updating our current software to a web-based version. By doing so we are still maintaining all aspects of the quality management system, such as document, audit and corrective action management, but will also enable greater functionality between users, particularly between various sites.

Dates for the Calendar in 2020

We will be attending various events around the world throughout the year. Some key dates for your calendar include:

24 - 28th March - AAOS Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL, USA

9th -11th June - 16th Annual Orthopaedic Manufacturing and Technology Exposition and Conference in Chicago, IL, USA

23rd-26th September - ISTA 2020 Maui in Maui, USA

We’d like to wish all our customers, suppliers and contacts a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year from everyone here at Orthoplastics. We look forward to continuing working with you in 2020.