2 minute read - 7th September 2023
OGM invests £5.5m at production site in Wales
Plastic injection moulding company Owen Greenings and Mumford (OGM) has invested £5.5m in the modernisation and expansion of its Hengoed site in Wales. The investment includes upgrading the power to a 1250kVA HV supply, the installation of new chilled water and compressed air systems, the purchase of new moulding machines and robots, and the building of a new 600 sq m warehouse.
The modernisation programme has been undertaken to complement OGM’s technologically advanced facility in Oxford where it invested £500,000 in a cleanroom expansion earlier this year.
To increase capacity, the Hengoed site has been completely remodelled. OGM has installed new fully automated cells with three new plastic injection moulding machines, robots, ancillary equipment and pipework, in addition to a new chiller system. The new warehouse unit is currently being built which will increase finished goods space significantly and the assembly area has also been moved to make space for a machine from Oxford.
OGM has invested £5.5m in a modernisation and expansion programme at its site in Wales / Picture: OGM
Engineers at OGM have also designed and developed a sophisticated automated assembly system to complement an existing manual assembly operation that will deliver a 30% gain in efficiency and enable skilled staff to be redeployed elsewhere in the factory. Further improvements will be achieved from the reconfiguration of the entire factory to improve flow of goods in and goods out.
OGM group managing director, Paul Wightman, said: “We’ve been planning to invest heavily in Wales, at the Hengoed plant, since we acquired it in 2018 so that both OGM sites can operate together to serve Group customers. The investment is already generating substantial new business with recent wins from new and existing customers.
“We’ll be investing further at OGM Wales over the next 12 months. A new toolroom will be built which will be 50% larger than the existing one at over 200 sq m of floor area and we are installing a new crane and additional toolroom equipment for support, repairs and maintenance. We have also expanded the team with four new roles; a toolmaker, a quality engineer and two apprentices from local college, Coleg Y Cymoedd. OGM is committed to ongoing investment in new technology, developing our staff and improving our business processes, operations and culture.”
New orders have come from sectors where OGM has particular expertise such as plastic injection moulding and assembly of medical components, electronic housings, components for dental and telecoms equipment and large-scale components for off-road automotive cabs.