Difficult business conditions are said to be the reason why Linpac Group (GB-Birmingham B37 7YN; www.linpac.com) is to close one of its UK injection moulding plants. Linpac Mouldings (GB-Witton, Birmingham B6 7HY) will shut its Witton factory with the expected loss of 180 jobs. The company has 26 machines in its 45,000 square metre facility, together with assembly and finishing equipment. It supplies custom mouldings, in particular, for the automotive and packaging industries. One of the high profile products is a hexagonal PP tile produced for Eve Trakway. The tiles lock together to produce temporary flooring surfaces, of which around 600 square metres were installed at the 19th Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

Linpac has not commented further on the Witton closure and it is not known if the moulding machines will be moved to another site or sold. In July 2003, Linpac Mouldings closed its production plant in Overpelt, Belgium.