CPS Chemical Products and Services is to open a new UK manufacturing facility at the European headquarters of its sister company, MacDermid Autotype.

CPS Chemical Products and Services, the leading European manufacturer of high quality, environmentally friendly chemicals, solvents and associated products for the screen and offset print industries, has announced that it is to open a new UK manufacturing facility at the European headquarters of its sister company, MacDermid Autotype. Based in Wantage, Oxfordshire, the new facility will produce the full range of CPS products and represents a significant investment for the company, which is part of a longer term programme of European expansion, designed to improve still further the quality and choice of products and the support provided to both the company's dealer network and thus to end users. In addition, the company has appointed a new Commercial Manager, Simon Jones, formerly with MacDermid Autotype, who explains that, 'The new UK plant includes a full-scale production operation, with bulk formulation, blending, mixing and packaging of solvents and aqueous products.

Just as importantly, the new operation gives us the opportunity to strengthen our research and product development resources, increase our range of technical and applications support services and, with the support of our sister company, to rationalise a number of our administrative functions in order to enhance still further our competitiveness in the European marketplace'.

CPS currently manufactures an extensive range of chemicals and solvents, stencil and ink cleaning equipment, recycling and filtration systems, for use in manual and automated screen and offset print operations.

The chemical product range includes screen adhesives, degreasers and preparation products, photo-emulsions and screen fillers, and screen cleaning and reclamation chemistry.

In each case, the company concentrates on developing products that both minimise environmental damage, during manufacture, use and disposal, and improve working conditions for screen printers, through reduced solvent emissions, the elimination of aggressive or harmful substances and the promotion of process automation.

Simon Jones adds, 'Our new UK manufacturing facility will also form our headquarters from which we can support our customers via our extensive European dealer network.

We have relocated and retained key staff from other CPS sites and will be recruiting as required to strengthen the team still further.

In addition, we have retained the services of one of the founders of CPS, Dr Charles Hansen, who is recognised throughout the industry as a leading expert on the formulation of environmentally friendly chemistry and this relationship will be vital as we begin to develop a new generation of products that will improve the screen and offset print working place still further