A plastics manufacturer is bucking the national downturn by investing £125,000 in machinery to help secure future contracts and jobs.

Tatra Plastics Manufact-uring, of Norwood Green, near Wyke, has installed a hi-tech £100,000 moulding machine to replace a machine that has been running non-stop for 25 years.

The company, which manufacturers PVC extrusions, plastic extrusions, plastic tube, profile extrusions and injection moulding, has said the new machine incorporates new computer technology to ease programming and flexibility of output.

The company, which also manufactures the Click & Fix range of self-assembly plastic panelling products, has estimated the machine will use 50 per cent less energy.

It is being used to turn out sets of mouldings for the telecoms sector and will soon by joined by a £25,000 robot arm to offload, stack, palletise and box-up mouldings.

Chairman Paul Freud said the investment reflected the company’s confidence in the manufacturing environment and will help the company respond more quickly to orders and specifications.

He said: “These machines will not only help us respond even more quickly to a client’s orders and specifications, we should also be able to increase our output.”

Craig Whittaker, Tory MP for Calder Valley, will visit the company on Thursday, July 19, to mark the installation of the new machinery.

Mr Whittaker said: “Tatra is an example of a successful and entrepreneurial business that has repeatedly responded to changes in technology, its marketplace and customer demands so that it is now a leading force in UK plastics manufacture.

“In my constituency there is a proud heritage of manufacturing that goes back to pre-Victorian times.”

Tatra was founded in 1963 to make plastic injection mouldings. Tatra now employs more than 30 staff and also produces a range of telecoms products and railway pads and the Click & Fix range of plastic panelling products.