A plastics firm has bounced back after being knocked for six during the recession.

Birkby’s Plastics, based at Liversedge, is has won new contracts and is expanding its expertise a year after being severely hit by recession and shedding more than 200 jobs.

The company, which dates back to 1867, has since been able to re-employ more than 100 people.

Birkby’s designs, manufactures and assembles components for the car industry and supplies global customers including Honda, Toyota and BMW.

From a peak of 450 employees before the recession, the company suffered from the downturn in the automotive sector, leading to pay cuts, reduced shifts, days of non-production and redundancies.

The company received advice and support from Kirklees Council and Yorkshire Forward who helped to identify new funding streams.

The business is now getting back on-track having increased sales and taken back staff.

Since July it has been making components for the UK assembly plant of HBPO GmbH This year it started production of injection mouldings for German automotive textiles manufacturer Borgers Limited to provide injection mouldings for a new boot trim assembly.

Ian Parker, who was among local business bosses who briefed Prime Minister David Cameron and the Cabinet when they visited Bradford this summer, said: “The past few years have been challenging but we’ve had a great deal of support from the council and other agencies and thankfully been able to pull through.

“The company that has come out of this recession is stronger than it was before; we’ve got a new focus and drive and look forward to expanding our expertise in the future.”

Birkby’s was a pioneer of industry in Spen Valley and became the biggest employer in the district. Trams were the boom industry at the beginning of the 20th Century and Birkby’s started to dominate overhead line materials production and electrical insulation.

During World War One the company worked with Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite, and by the 1970s was making 1.8m telephones a year.