Pentagon invests into 24 hour production
There has been a steady increase in production demand throughout 2024 and into 2025 which led Pentagon to make a changes to its production capacity. For the last 20 years the UK based plastic injection moulder has operated across a two-shift pattern with the factory operating 16 hours a day but from early February capacity is being extended to 24 hours.
This is a milestone for the company as the increased demand is being driven by the medical (non-clean room moulding) and aerospace sectors which continue to grow at pace. Pentagon are technical injection moulders and the components that are manufactured on site are often part of larger assemblies, and commonly from engineering grades of thermoplastics.
The business offers a high level of technical expertise that it offers customers. In 2024 Pentagon announced the growth of its Setter Technicians team, undertaken to support the next step of growth for the business which it is seeing today whilst giving a high standard of technical expertise across all three shifts.
The third production shift will help to ensure high volume medical mouldings continue to meet increasing customer demand while opening capacity on larger presses for new business going forward. The shift will be overseen by one of the groups longest serving employees who has been with the organisation since infancy.
Despite this positive step for Pentagon, it will not be without challenges. It claims the imminent changes brought in by the Government in the autumn budget and the increased operational cost of running 24 hours, therefore controlling costs will be vital moving forward.
UK Manufacturing services still feel highly under utilised although Brexit did deliver a positive wave of change in the form of re-shoring and companies and design engineers looking to source UK suppliers, there is still a way to go to ensure the longevity and continued growth of this sector claims Pentagon.
Pentagon highlights one of the key areas is the long-running issues of bridging the skills gap, the continued lack of duly experienced toolmakers, precision engineers, and the difficulty of balancing apprenticeships and development with revenue producing work streams and resources.
Pentagon offers in-house mould tool manufacture and tooling services, which is not currently readily available from UK injection moulders, giving customers a full turnkey solution for their plastic injection moulding projects and a single point of contact for the life of their products and projects.
