Plastic Card Services

Plastic Card Services was established in 1993 after directors Rob Nicholls and Tim Holt were made redundant from the DataCard Corp. as a result of the recession in the early 90s. They saw an opportunity in the commercial card market and with them having over 20 years combined expertise in the field, felt it was a good time to launch their own company. PCS opened for business on February 1993, at home in Wilmslow, Cheshire; where Rob and Tim were the only employees. After investing in card personalisation and mailing equipment, an internal card bureau was implemented in 1995. The manufacturer now has 70 employees working from its purpose-built manufacturing plant at Tytherington Business Park in Macclesfield, Cheshire. The company's turnover for 2010 was £5 million and this is expected to grow to £8 million by 2013. This has been boosted by the recent expansion of the manufacturing plant by 50% to take it to over 20,000 sq ft, which will enable card production capacity to increase from 50 million to 80 million. Turnover has increased by 43% in the last financial year, which is on top of a 20% increase from the previous year. The company has also taken exports from a zero position to make up 25% of turnover by the year-end. There are three key areas to the business - the first is card manufacturing, the second is card personalisation and mailing, and the third is the secure warehouse facility for storage and issue of stock into production as required. Developing the business into new export markets has been a huge success story, particularly the Scandinavian market. The work for Coop Danmark in Denmark has recently earned PCS a Print & Design Award for best mailer; it has also taken its sales to Nordic countries to £1.6 million, including the production of one million cards for Denmark's largest health and beauty retail chain, Matas. Investment in developing new products and technologies remains a business priority. Plastic cards produced with biodegradable polymers are being adopted more widely both in the UK and in Europe as companies are given more specific environmental targets.