Testimonial: “Since arriving at Verplas 2 years ago I have had an open, honest and trustworthy relationship with Holly & Matt of which has helped with decision making on material, quantities and lead times and enabled us to plan and work with more flexibility and more efficient – Thanks BEC!”

Dave Carr, Procurement Manager, Verplas

Above: Verplas self-sealing couplings and ducting

Industry: Ventilation

Service:  Complete end-to-end manufacturing:  Design for manufacture, mould tool design & manufacture and plastic injection moulding.

Our Client: Verplas, established in 1986, is one of the UK’s leading ventilation ducting manufacturers. They have led the way within the domestic ventilation market for nearly 30 years.

Our Mission: Verplas needed a suite of 15 couplings, both circular and rectangular, to fit a variety of duct joints and eliminate the need for sealant and tape to prevent air leakage within these ducting systems. With a tight turnaround time for all 15 mouldings, design adjustments required throughout the process to optimise function, and tooling and high-volume mouldings, this was an ambitious project.

BEC Solution: Through our long-standing relationship with Verplas and the strong communication between their design & engineering teams and our tooling and moulding departments, we were able to work collaboratively to make design tweaks to improve manufacturing and the finished product on an incredibly tight timescale.

The injection mouldings produced by BEC complimented Verplas’ in-house extrusion process to produce a suite of 15 easy-install couplings. Using polystyrene for these couplings proved to be cost-efficient, durable and lightweight as well as minimising heat loss and leakage.

As a UK manufacturer, Verplas were able to have far more control over the quality of mouldings with the ability to view first-off samples in the BEC factory. In addition, delivery times, transportation costs and supply chain issues were greatly reduced in comparison to overseas manufacturers.

Result: Within just a few short months, our tooling department designed and manufactured 15 fully automatic mould tools of various sizes and shapes to exact specifications to fit Verplas’ range of ducting.

This tooling was retained for manufacturing in our mould shop to injection mould a high-volume of each design. After initial moulding runs and the commercial success of the couplings, we continue to manufacture them in high volume when required- this is made by possible by BEC and Verplas’ communicative relationship and agile manner of working.

The sealing ability of the coupling has been independently tested by the Building Research Establishment, Test Report No. 285430.

If you’re looking for a UK manufacturer to help you from design to manufacturing in plastic injection moulding, please get in touch on 01425 613131 or email.