Elaine MaslinA manufacturer behind plastic bottles used for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals by Sainsbury, Next and Revlon has invested more than �250,000 in machinery set to boost its production.Elaine Maslin

A manufacturer behind plastic bottles used for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals by Sainsbury, Next and Revlon has invested more than �250,000 in machinery set to boost its production.

Family-run FL Plastics makes an estimated 20 million bottles per year at its Whiffler Road Trading Estate site in Norwich.

Its latest investment, a machine imported from Japan, will boost its production capacity by a potential 35,000 bottles per working day, or by 15 to 20pc overall.

This will mean the firm can increase its share of the UK market through volume and speed of response to orders, said Geoff Fitzgerald-Lombard, the firm's managing director.

He said the firm was working at full capacity last year and the new machine would give them more scope.

'Everybody in manufacturing has found the market tough during the recession,' he said. 'But we have maintained business levels and we feel that by making this investment now, in a manner that is cost effective for us, we will be able to exploit new opportunities more readily.'

FL Plastics turns over about �2m making bottles through extrusion blow moulding, injection stretch blow moulding and injection moulding for toiletries, cosmetics, personal care and pharmaceuticals.

Its customers include Next, Revlon, Sainsbury, Molton Brown, Nippon, and Marks & Spencer.

'In any manufacturing environment you are always looking for competitive advantage and that normally means employing the latest technology to improve service, capacity and capability,' added Mr Fitzgerald-Lombard.

'This new machine does exactly that for us and will open up new opportunities for us, as we can now produce in greater volume and in a shorter time period.

'Our customers are moving to new and shorter production cycles so we are adapting and making sure we have the right machinery, which makes us fit for the evolving market place.'

The firm was originally set up in 1991 and incorporated in 1998, when it moved from Bowthorpe to Whiffler Road, and now employs about 26 staff.