Luxus drives recycled material into automotive sector

Louth-based technical plastics recycler Luxus has invested £600,000 in a new laboratory. The facility, which is expected to be finished by December 2012, will create three R&D jobs.

Left to right – (back row) Rob Deakin, manufacturing manager Loadhog, Matthew Godhard, operations manager Loadhog (front row) Nikki Wigham, internal sales manger Luxus, Ian Pigot, general manger Luxus, Ed Stubbs, managing director Loadhog, Sarah Willis, lab manager Luxus and Terry Burton, technical manager Luxus

The 750sqm laboratory will equip Luxus with the facilities it needs to accelerate its technical development of high-performance thermoplastic polymers with a high recycled content, primarily for global automotive industry needs. Its automotive customers include Nissan, Ford, Jaguar, BMW and most recently, Renault.

The investment has been made possible thanks to the £6m in lending Luxus received as a regional winner of the HSBC ‘Business Thinking’ award in 2011.

Luxus’ managing director, Peter Atterby, said: “Our team will be housed in a new state of the art facility that will enable them to continue to undertake thermoplastic polymer testing, development and analysis research work that provides bespoke solutions for niche market needs.

“For example, we are achieving improvements in compound design through a new European collaboration project that focuses on the technical aspects of recycled polymers in car interiors. It has recently lead to the development of a new lightweight polymer, Hycolene that reduces interior component weight to enable manufacturers meet tough CO2 targets – its route to market will no doubt be speeded up thanks to the lab.

“Our manufacturing processes will also improve as it will no longer be necessary to take out a production machine to run our on-going development work, such as compatibilisation of polymer alloys and the creation of recycled polymers with a high scratch resistance also demanded by auto manufacturers,” he added.

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