Product Description

BIP holds a unique place in the history of plastics, worldwide. Founded in ***4, it is the oldest polymer material manufacturer in the UK, by far, and amongst the oldest in the world. Its place in the history of plastics was assured when its chemists patented the world’s first ‘water-white’ thermoset resin in ***4.

In order to encourage wider use of this revolutionary material - with the unusual tradename of Beetle® - the company found it necessary to purchase its own moulding plant, The Streetly Manufacturing Company Limited in ***9. This thinking, and confidence, that “if industry can’t supply what we want, then we’ll make it ourselves” led, significantly, to the setting up of its own tool making company, BIP Tools Limited, in ***6 and, *3 years later, its own moulding press manufacturing company BIP Engineering Limited.

By the mid****0s, the extent and depth of BIP’s involvement in the plastics moulding industry was considerable and, without doubt, unique. Furthermore, its speciality resins took the company into aircraft manufacture, boat building, construction, iron foundries, the production of furniture and wood laminates, paint manufacture, paper treatment, textile finishing and building insulation. All this from a ”small, smelly pot shed” beside a canal in the English West Midlands.

BIP never enjoyed the benefits of large financial resources, except for a period during its time as a T&N subsidiary; the company’s troubles and set-backs, particularly in the early years, were overcome through a remarkable mix of enterprise, foresight, inventive skill and, specifically on the part of its work force, understanding. Its ability to survive and its subsequent development, expansion and success can be confidently put down to the skills, persistence and devotion of its chemists, accountants, engineers and leaders. Not the least of these was Kenneth Chance.