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Leading UK print and industrial roller manufacturers, KV Rollers, are continuing their ambitious growth plans with a prestigious new appointment.

Tim Hudson will join the South Wales based company as Commercial Director, having been head hunted from one of KV Rollers’ closest competitors, Böttcher.

Kevin Lower, KV Rollers Managing Director, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Tim on board. He brings with him a wealth of expertise and specialist knowledge, which will support KV Rollers during its ongoing expansion.

“KV Rollers has moved into a new and exciting phase of its life as a result of major increased investment in the company, and thanks to our continued commitment to a rolling programme of research and development. Tim’s appointment is part of that expansion. He has a sound reputation in the industry because of his aptitude for achieving marked sales growth, and we feel Tim will bring a fresh approach to the table.”

The firm, based in Cwmbran, recently made a bumper investment of £750,000 in plant and machinery at their new factory, and they are projected to increase turnover by 20 percent this year with a growing number of orders from companies across the globe over the past six months.

They have invested in, among other things, a state-of-the art milling machine, thought to be the only one of its kind being used in the UK -  the Mazak VTC 820. This leviathan of a metal-milling machine has helped KV Rollers expand into supplying machine manufacturers as well as end users.

Mr Lower added: “We are now a one-stop-shop for metal components and specialist parts, having already established ourselves as field-leaders in the design, production and refurbishment of industrial rollers, and in creating bespoke rubber compounds.”

Tim, who was previously Production Director at Böttcher’s Ebbw Vale plant, said: I am excited to be joining KV Rollers at such a crucial time in their development and growth. The KV Rollers name has always been associated with excellence and innovation and I look forward to bringing my expertise to the KV Rollers talent-pool.”

KV Rollers have enjoyed a particularly successful time recently.

They were in the news at the end of 2014 for developing a ground-breaking new polymer, called Kalexite, designed to make the packaging and print industry markedly safer by cutting fire risk.

They were also fast-tracked this year as one of Tata Steel’s approved suppliers.

The packaging and print industry could be markedly safer in future thanks to a ground-breaking new material created by a South Wales company.

KV Rollers, based in Cwmbran, is a leading manufacturer of rubber rollers and of rubber polymers for use in the print, packaging, food handling and advanced engineering industries, and if you use cash, drive a car, read magazines or drink branded spirits then you have, albeit indirectly, come into contact with their products.

Their chemical engineers work at the cutting edge of polymer science to make print works and factories safer and more productive, and to help firms to innovate.

One of KV Rollers’ most exciting new developments has been Kalexite – a roller covering with superior anti-static properties, which the company believes will slash the risk of factory fires, while boosting productivity for its users.

In developing Kalexite, technologists used a recently introduced grade of base-polymer, to produce a formulation matching the Eltex GNN75 requirement which requires a non-black/non-marking single layer conductive sleeve system with a hardness spec of 80-85 shore (A scale), exhibiting a corresponding surface conductivity of 10-30 mega ohms @ 120 volts.

KV Rollers director Kevin Lower says the material, which was the result of hundreds of man hours in the lab and in production, could revolutionise the print and packaging industries and to become the standard solution for many other applications as well.

“Here at KV Rollers we have built our success and our good reputation upon developing market-leading new polymers and rubber products, and Kalexite is an innovation we are particularly excited about.

“We believe it has the potential to make the paper and packaging industries a much safer place due to its superior anti-static properties, which reduce the risk of sparking and ignition.

He explained: “Print and paper rollers operate at increasingly high speeds, often coming into contact with static generating substrates, so the risk of ignition and of subsequent fire is high.

“Kelexite has the potential for many extended uses within a range of printing, mechanical handling and film packaging-based applications, where high levels of airborne volatiles prohibit the presence of sparking or other ignition sources.”

He continues: “As well as being a potential boon to safety Kalexite is proving its worth as far as performance quality and longevity too, which has an impact upon manufacturing costs and, importantly, upon profit margins.

“I believe Kalexite is the next generation of this kind of rubber compound.