A Liversedge-based plastics manufacturer is roaring into 2002 with an expanded workforce and booming business.

In the last three months Birkby's Plastics has taken on 62 permanent staff and 40 temporary workers, pushing its total staffing level to 550.

The firm creates strengthened plastic components for a range of car parts including power steering and brake fluid reservoirs - parts which in the past would have used welded metal.

It launched the recruitment drive in October after winning several major new contracts.

The business has also invested heavily in new equipment this year, and has set up a technology centre in the heart of its key automotive industry market - Detroit, in the US.

The new jobs have been created in Birkby's structural automotive, business electronics and Japanese automotive trim teams, simply to cope with the increasing workload.

Vice president Ian Hunter said: "Despite the general down-turn in the global economy I am encouraged to say that we appear to be strengthening our position.

"We are fast becoming one of Europe's leading plastics moulding innovators thanks to a succession of new business wins.

"We look forward to taking the plastics industry into a high-tech future using the very latest technologies."

The company has an annual turnover of £40 million and exports to more than 20 countries around the world. It plans to swell its workforce even further in the New Year, by taking on another ten full-time workers.