Masterbatch and plastic compound manufacturer Broadway hit a milestone this month – delivering its 50,000th custom colour match. A landmark 25 years in the making.
Colour matching plastics is widely considered to be an art which is not easily mastered, only experience will ensure accurate, compatible and cost-efficient matches. Broadway’s Senior Colourist Mark Turner has been with the company since it was founded in 1997. Other colourists have been able to draw on Mark’s rare knowledge in order to develop their own skills.
Colourist Ben Wilson spoke about Broadway’s 50,000th custom colour match, which he recently formulated for Berry M&H:
“Our custom product codes follow a numerical order. For some time, the team had been aware that we were approaching Broadway’s 50,000th match. I saw when logging the formulation that I was assigning it the code SCM 50,000. It made me consider all the man-hours that must have gone into developing so many custom formulations over the years. I’m proud to be part of a team which delivers accuracy and value for our customers.
“Coincidentally the match was a lustrous platinum effect recently launched as our ‘Effect of the month’ for June, named ‘Jubilee’. Very fitting I’d say. It could have been any one of us in the lab creating our 50,000th match, but I’m pleased this one fell to me. I hope our customer likes the effect as much as I do. It’s certainly one which will deliver a premium look to plastic packaging.”
The Broadway team take a number of important criteria into account when selecting pigments or dyestuffs for custom formulations. These include heat stability, polymer compatibility, lightfastness, toxicity, metamerism and cost. Once Broadway has formulated a new colour match, they’ll post colour plaques to customers for approval, along with a masterbatch sample for moulding trials if requested – all free of charge. Alternatively, customers can join Broadway on-site, to review new sample plaques as they’re made. This allows a range of new colours to be approved in a single day, saving precious time on product development.
Louise S. – Cluster Purchasing Manager at Berry M&H spoke positively of her experience with Broadway:
“Broadway has supported M&H for many years. They have a vast array of knowledge and work hard to support the requirements of their customers. They understand the need to respond quickly and efficiently with high-quality products. I would not hesitate to recommend Broadway.”
Complete a colour match request form online or call 01986 875100 to take advantage of Broadway’s FREE colour matching service.