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Tantec Looking Back on 2025
Looking back on 2025, we had a really interesting year… a mix of highs and lows as we had a record number of enquiries, but with that came additional work that needed a bigger team.
Moving to larger premises in 2023 and developing our team gave us vital skills, experience and space to work on these projects leading to some very successful projects for both new and existing customers.
Taking a moment to reflect we can see there are still areas we want to improve, one critical area which was realised half way through the year was the number of team members in project management and sales to support the growing number of enquiries.
New Team Members in 2026 For Tantec In Redditch
As we start 2026, we’re proud to announce our latest sales and project team member Luke Martin who joins us from an impressive sales history in polymers and engineering.
Chris Howey, Managing Director comments: Luke is an exciting addition to our team, his enthusiasm and energy come at a time where we’re keen to push ahead with new markets and customers. He also brings knowledge and experience that we don’t have already so we’re excited for his input as he settles in!
We saw an increase in enquiries of over 20% which was exciting to see and with our premises expansion in 2023 was sensible to fulfil. However, the project management around these new projects needed strengthening and Luke brings experience and importantly an extra person to deal with trials, visits and design of equipment and contract treatment processes.
Production At All Time High For Ebble Manufacturing
Last years ‘Exciting Start’ post announced the promotion of Steve Laurie to full time Production Manager and as his first year drew to a close, production was increasing month on month and the outlook for 2026 was stronger than ever.
Starting the new year we’re seeing significant existing customer orders coming through along with immediate new projects starting which is keeping Steve busy and providing us with positive feedback on the business direction.
Steve Laurie, Production Manager comments:
It’s great to see the factory filling up and the versatility we can offer introduces new challenges. It’s been great to work with customers to find a resolution.
One such challenge was with a customer looking for early stage prototypes where they needed treatment, adhesive bonding using a dispensing robot and final assembly. Working with them to create strong work instructions and a process that could be followed during early stages and beyond meant a high yield of product from the very first job.
The production at our Redditch facility is expected to expand further this year and the team are ready and keen to see new projects come through the doors. For more examples and to understand the contract manufacturing side of the business, you can always visit Ebble Manufacturing.
Engineering and After Sales Support
Moving the team around at the start of 2025 with the addition of Matt Edkins in our Internal Sales Support role meant that 2025 was an incredibly strong year for our engineering and service capability.
Number of customer services increased by 50% vs previous years with customers engaging positively when approached with our additional capacity.
Working closely with customers to offer enhanced servicing and onsite support has been incredibly strong and demonstrates the positive steps we’re taking to work closer with customers through the lifetime of their equipment use.
The service team are happy to engage fully with customers and take responsibility for the equipment, but equally happy to offer training and engineering support to onsite maintenance teams to ensure Tantec equipment operates at peak performance with minimal downtime.
Matt Banthorpe (Engineering Director) and Matt Edkins (Internal Sales Support) are credited with working closer with existing customers to facilitate the growth in this area and are committed to supporting further.
Along with servicing, our repair and refurbishment facilities have expanded which is allowing customers to reuse and continue to use their equipment for longer and with quicker turnaround when things go wrong.
New Factory Equipment
We planned to install a robot cell in 2025, however the project was put on hold when an existing customer sadly decided to close down and the opportunity to take their machine back came along.
Now installed is a 2m wide, high powered Foam and Sheet Treating Corona unit, capable of running up to 50mm thick materials including polyethylene and polyurethane foams, polypropylene sheets and many other large format materials. Capable of treating materials to improve surface energy for printing, coating and adhesive bonding in most cases.
It’s exciting to have the Tantec FoamTEC system on site because they’re incredibly useful and while we have a number of customers using them, they’re often installed within production lines or in use constantly.
Having our own on site in Redditch was an instant hit and even though it wasn’t here the entirety of 2025, it became the third busiest machine in the factory.
The FoamTEC system is available for demo and contract treatment of materials immediately.
Our plan for 2026 is still to build a new 6 axis robot automation cell, but we need to review the shop floor layout to fit the new automation in.
Looking Forward in 2026
When we think back to collecting the keys to 40A several years back, the site is unrecognisable today. A once empty shell with nothing but a toilet block and kitchen sink is now full and has us scratching our heads when considering where the next machines will live.
The company is at an interesting point because while investment, training and enhancing processes has been significant, there is still plenty of capacity for growth. Alongside our Danish manufacturing facility that built a new production hall in recent years, we have the capability of delivering more equipment and a lot of contract treatment projects.
2026 truly feels like a year to push and grow and make the most of the strong foundations the business has put in place.
We’re also excited for the return of Interplas at the NEC, one of our favourite exhibitions in plastics that only happens every few years.
So hopefully we get to say hello at the show, welcome you through the doors at our site and see you in your factories as the year progresses. Either way, here’s to a strong year for us and our customers!
