The egeplast Group – egeplast UK
egeplast international GmbH is a premier European manufacturer. A family owned business, based in Greven, Germany and founded in 1908, the company turnsover €170-million per year and has state of the art manufacturing facilities in the UK, Sweden and Germany.
The egeplast group manufactures and supplies future-proofed pipe systems which improve environmental performance, help deliver net zero and ultimately support a better life for future generations. The egeplast brand has been built on a long standing committment to innovation and the delivery of maximum reliability and safety.
egeplast UK
Internationalisation is part of the egeplast Group‘s corporate strategy. In order to be competitive across the full range of products, freight costs must not be excessive. The logistics of servicing the UK market are more complex than for deliveries in continental Europe because of factors including ferry transportation and the use of 40-foot containers. Changes following Brexit have made it even more difficult to supply UK customers from Germany.
Since 2005, egeplast has been developing the UK market through its sales partner Westwood Pipelines Ltd in Sandtoft near Doncaster. Our successful partnership with Westwood Pipelines gave us local approvals to provide product to the UK market, a local stock yard and the opportunity to develop strong commercial relationships with utilities, contractors and distributors.
In 2018, egeplast funded a new PE pipe production facility at the Westwood Pipelines‘ site in order to provide customers with a more flexible service and shorter lead times. More recently our acquisition of Westwood Pipelines has given us a UK base from which to consolidate our activities and drive future growth.
The UK site is about 40,000 sqm in size. Headed by Steven Jones, Managing Director, Westwood Pipelines (now trading as egeplast UK) has 40 employees working in production, administration and sales.
A manufacturing and distribution business, egeplast UK is capable of extruding up to 180 mm, fabricating specialist fittings and providing a range of PE pipe fittings to complement the wide range of pipe systems available via the group.
It is planned that with future investment the business will extend its capacity and production capabilities building on the historical success of Westwood Pipelines Ltd.
“The acquisition has created a platform that allows us to offer our customers more specialist products alongside our core ranges including the SLA® Barrier Pipe System.” Steven Jones, Managing Director egeplast UK
What are the advantages for the customers?
The strength of egeplast UK lies in its knowledge of the UK market, the successful commercial relationships built up over many years, the level of technical support it can provide, and the provision of the local service preferred by its customer base.
egeplast UK’s ambition is to ensure that innovation remains at the core of the UK business with a focus on meeting the challenges being faced by wider society. This forms a key element of the strategic plan going forward.
“The transition of Westwood Pipelines into egeplast UK creates significant growth opportunities for our business as well as some exciting developments for the market.” comments egeplast UK Managing Director, Steven Jones.
“We now have the backing of a premier European manufacturer of polyethene pipe systems which enables us to develop additional capacity and, importantly, cement our position as a manufacturing company supporting the UK market. The acquisition also gives us a platform for future growth by giving customers an enhanced service and, alongside core products such as the SLA® Barrier Pipe System, other innovative product offers which will enable us to target additional market segments.”
egeplast UK will extend its product offer with the introduction of new pipe systems: SLM® 3.0, a radical new design that enables clients to reduce their carbon footprint whilst installing their pipelines; 3L Leak Control, a pipe system with permanent electronic leak detection for optimum environmental protection; the SLM® DCS pipe range which incorporates regular integrity checks for critical infrastructure applications, and SLM® DCT, a piping system with integrated quality testing for trenchless installation. Additional product and service launches are planned and include sustainable solutions which help reduce carbon emissions and deliver long term environmental benefits.
Contact:
Steven Jones
Email: Steven.Jones@westpipes.com
Telefon: +44 1427 875770
Dr. Ansgar Strumann
Email: ansgar.strumann@egeplast.de
Telefon: +49 2575 9710 220
