WCC grant helps Studley business to diversify to provide PPE equipment
A grant from Warwickshire County Council for a Studley business to invest in a state-of-the-art machine is paying dividends to provide vital PPE equipment for hospital and care home staff in the Covid-19 pandemic.
PSW Paper & Print, whose head office and retail shop are in Alcester Road, has diversified into building face visors from acetate sheets which are usually used as a clear front page to bind reports.
The family-run business has received its first order to provide 300 face visors a day for hospitals and care homes.
Phil Skinner, a director at PSW Paper & Print, said the investment in the £80,000 CNC Blackman & White machine which included a £27,000 grant from the Warwickshire County Council Growth Fund was proving critically important to help in the fight to curb the Coronavirus.
“Normally we use acetate sheets to bind books but we have the machinery to adapt them into making face visors,” he said.
“These are needed for key workers at hospitals and care homes for staff to use when they are dealing with patients or elderly people.
“With the Warwickshire County Council Growth Fund, we bought a British-made Blackman & White machine last September and it is proving to be a great investment.
“We are also working with a Redditch pharmaceutical packaging company called Softbox to provide packaging inlays that will help keep products at a specific temperature during transportation.
“Overall, we have 30 staff including nine in the print division and they are producing 300 or 400 of these box layers every day so whether products need to be kept cold or hot, they arrive at their destination at the right temperature.
“These are jobs we couldn’t have done before we purchased the machine.
“Before the Coronavirus, we were running at capacity providing signage and posters for nationally known holiday parks, and outdoor posters and menus for various pub chains and we have carried out complete shop re-fits for a national chain of car supplies and bike retailer.”
Mark Ryder, Strategic Director for Communities at Warwickshire County Council, said it was great to hear the grant from its Growth Fund was playing a part in providing PPE equipment.
“PSW Paper & Print has over 15 years’ experience in the industry and investing in a cutting-edge machine is taking the company into new markets to produce face visors in the battle against the Coronavirus,” he said.
“Businesses such as PSW Paper & Print are showing great entrepreneurship and showcasing their ability to adapt to new situations to provide equipment which is really needed at the moment.
“We launched the Growth Fund to provide capital grants to small businesses looking to expand and this is a perfect example of this in action as well as helping to protect staff on the frontline in dealing with Covid-19.”
Caption: Phil Skinner, a director at PSW Paper & Print
