How things change in a year!

Name: NORDELL
Address: Dominion Way, Worthing, West Sussex, BN14 8NW
Telephone: +44 1903 235 765

Nordell are a privately owned plastics injection moulding business based in Worthing, West Sussex, manufacturing specialist parts for a wide range of sectors. At the beginning of 2020, the business was doing well and continuing to see modest growth with its core customers and relatively normal volume of new business enquiries. None of us knew how things were about to change! Although we had started to hear about a virus in China, we don’t think anyone quite imagined how all our lives would change in a global pandemic!

We remained open, being classed as an essential business with many of our customers manufacturing critical parts. We immediately set about ensuring our business was Covid secure with the introduction of mandatory controls.

There was an immediate impact on our demand with some of our core customers business severely impacted by Covid -19 which meant they either closed or reduced orders. Despite a downturn in business we maintained all our staff without Furlough or redundancy. We had to think quickly though, as we did not know how long the pandemic would last or its long-term impact on our business turnover.

We had to think outside the box, and when an opportunity came along in the Spring to manufacture medical consumables that required ISO7 Cleanroom manufacturing, we literally made a decision in a few weeks to go ahead with a significant capital investment after hastily putting together a business case along with critical financial planning.

In 6 weeks, we were up and running and manufacturing. We had a 100m² cleanroom and 5 new mould presses. Little did we know, this would not be enough! Now, just a few months later we have started building another larger cleanroom with new mould presses on order that will be operational in early December!

The second Cleanroom build has resulted in some bigger decisions! We needed more operational capacity so have taken a lease on a local industrial facility, manufacturing will be extended to 24/7 production at the end of the month and we have recruited new employees to fill the new shifts meet the increased demand.

It’s been a hectic six months!! To some extent it has been good for the team as keeping busy has provided a welcome distraction to the anxieties caused as a result of the pandemic. A massive thank you to the Nordell team who have been fantastic and risen to the challenge!

Despite the factory upheaval, we almost forget that our core business continues, and we continue to deliver what matters most to our customers. On top of this we have managed to rebrand the business, update our website and importantly introduced Workvivo; a brilliant 2-way internal communications platform to ensure the team know what is happening every step of the way and in real time.

It’s been a year of significant change and adaption. It is clear UK manufacturing has a bright future if we continue to innovate, adapt, and show the commitment and passion needed to succeed!

Posted 4 years ago By Nordell HQ 2020, Cleanroom, COVID-19, Expansion, Injection Moulding, Team, Workvivo