Rigid plastics packaging specialist RPC Group is celebrating two awards in a prestigious national industry competition.

At the Plastics Industry Awards in London last month, RPC was named Processor of the Year, the main award of the night, and also took home the prize for the Best Training and Development Programme for its Apprentice Academy at RPC Oakham. In addition, the company was short-listed in two other categories, while machinery manufacturer Ferromatik Milacron was recognised for its supplier partnership work with RPC.

Comedian Al Murray (aka The Pub Landlord) presented the awards in front of an audience of 800 people at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

In their citation for the Processor of the Year, the judges said that RPC "had shown considerable ambition in the past 12 months and backed up its strategic goals...with acquisitions and a clear focus on what was needed to take the business forward, including the establishment of its training academy".

The RPC Apprentice Academy has been established to help bring forward the next generation of engineers and innovators, and ensure that RPC continues to have the skills and expertise to support the company's further success and expansion.  Working with nationally-recognised industry awarding bodies, the state of the art facility is able to deliver both short courses and accredited qualifications in engineering and polymer processing to a very high standard, using qualified instructors who are working in the industry. This includes courses available to all RPC sites as well as external companies.

The RPC scheme differs from most apprenticeships as the individuals do all of the modules at the academy rather than going to a college, leading to a much more practical and work-based experience.

RPC Chief Executive Pim Vervaat commented:

"We are delighted at our success, which is the result of the hard work and dedication of everyone within the business. Our focus is always on delivering excellence in products and services to our customers but it is always pleasing when our efforts are recognised and rewarded by our peers within the industry."

Now in their fourteenth year, the Plastics Industry Awards highlight and recognise the best that the innovative UK plastics industry has to offer with 17 categories covering materials usage, product design, manufacturing, training and environmental performance.