Factory Friday: Adam Plastics

As part of our ongoing Factory Friday series, delving into the stories behind some of the Scottish Manufacturers on the Make Works Directory, we've asked Alan Johnston of Adam Plastics to tell us more about what it's like running a plastics fabricator in East Kilbride.

How did Adam Plastics start?

We started a plastics division as part of a large shopfitting company in 1996 to meet our plastic needs, rather than buying in our requirements we thought it would be better to manufacture ourselves. In 1999 we had an opportunity to buy out the company and in March 1999 we facilitated an MBO and bought out the plastics division.

Where can we see your finished pieces out in the world?

You can see most of our products in many of the large retailers and hotel chains in the UK.

We have also done some work for a large hotel chain in Oman and have manufactured furniture for domestic customers.

How has the plastics industry changed since 1996?

To be honest, in our field of fabrication there has been little change in the industry over the years. The greatest change has been our customer base which is the retail trade. Over the past few years the increase in online shopping has impacted greatly on the high street and the retailers expansion programmes.

What are the pieces that you've worked on over the years that you've really enjoyed?

Every day brings new challenges and new products. The interesting and enjoyable things about our industry is that we are producing new products almost every week.

One thing we have produced recently is a sandart lightbox which can assist young and old people with learning difficulties. It's been a really rewarding project.

What advice would you give to new artists and designers who are looking to work more closely with manufacturers?

My advice would be to speak and work closely with the manufacturer at the design stage, on many occasions the designer will design something from an obscure material which cannot be obtained or the end product is impractical or impossible to fabricate.

You can check out Adam Plastic's listing on Make Works here.

Want to find out more about working with factories? Read our piece on The Value of Collaboration