Leading plasterboard manufacturer and supplier Siniat has invested more than £250,000 in the construction of a state-of-the-art new laboratory facility at its flagship manufacturing plant in Portbury, Bristol.
The lab provides a modern, high-spec environment for Siniat’s production, maintenance and quality assurance teams and has enabled it to consolidate all three – which were previously based in different parts of the site – in one central, integrated location at the heart of the plant. Construction work began in May 2013 and is now complete, with the lab fully operational.
The facility will also act as an area where Siniat can welcome customers and other visitors to discuss its latest innovations and demonstrate key product performance capabilities such as fire and water resistance.
The quarter-of-a-million-pound project is just one step in a long-term vision for improving the site, says Stephane Mettavant, Plant Manager: “We’ve embarked on an ambitious programme of change for our Bristol plant since becoming Siniat. It’s focused on improving facilities for our customers and our employees and creating an environment in which we can share our expertise.
“The programme has already delivered tangible results and helped us to streamline our processes throughout the plant,” he says. “We have been successful in reducing the number of customer complaints we receive to industry-leading levels, and the new lab represents the next stage of reinforcing that quality assurance.
“It conveys the values that we share at Siniat: it is open, modern, professional and innovative – and literally places quality at the heart of our operation,” he continues. “The Bristol plant is Siniat’s biggest manufacturing facility and it’s really important that we make it a place where employees are proud to work and where customers feel welcome to come and see the production line for themselves.”
Siniat was formerly known as Lafarge Plasterboard. It was acquired by the Etex group at the end of 2011 and began trading as Siniat in October 2012.
