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MEDICAL FIRM INVESTS IN NORFOLK LAB

Medical manufacturer Aeropak is set for continued growth following a £300,000 investment

Medical manufacturer Aeropak is set for continued growth following a £300,000 investment in a new testing laboratory in Norfolk.

The company employs 45 at its plant on the Gapton Hall Industrial Estate in Great Yarmouth, producing a range of products including Bazuka verruca treatments, painkilling cream Ibugel and Adios slimming pills.

Parent company Diomed Developments, based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, which acquired the business in 1998, funded the new laboratory last year which will allow products to be tested on the Yarmouth site rather than at other Diomed facilities.

A quality control team manager has already been appointed to run the laboratory, with about three further jobs expected to be created over the coming two years.

The development follows continued growth at the site, which opened in 2002, at which point the business moved from previous premises in Exmouth Road, Yarmouth.

Site manager John Nicholson said the number employed at the plant had grown from between 12 and 15 10 years ago to 45 today, and the number of items made per year had risen from two million to five million over the past four years.

He added: "We have now started to test our own products, which makes really good sense to do so on the same site as they are manufactured.

"This enhances our aim for lean production, shortening the supply chain. It will take 18 months to two years to get the laboratory fully running."

Originally manufacturing fuel for model aircraft and powerboats, the company later moved into skin creams and other medical and cosmetic products, ahead of its acquisition by Diomed.

And Mr Nicholson said the mix of products made at the site had protected it from the worst impacts of the recession, with prescription products providing stable demand.

He added: "We are in that lucky place with a good mix of cosmetic skin products, over-the-counter products and prescription medicines.

"The economic conditions last year may have had an impact on one or two areas but prescriptions will carry on."