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Press release / From Stretch Armstrong, to keeping plaster casts strong

Press release issued for Precision Dippings, a family-run Bristol manufacturing firm

Kate Richards, director of Precision Dippings:  the Bristol-based manufacturing firm behind the award-winning Bloccs waterproof cast protector

Kate Richards, director of Precision Dippings: the Bristol-based manufacturing firm behind the award-winning Bloccs waterproof cast protector

Bloccs waterproof plaster cast protectors win top manufacturing award

THE company that put the rubber into the original Stretch Armstrong toy has scooped a top manufacturing innovation award after creating a waterproof plaster cast protector.

Bloccs protectors – the invention of Bristol-based family-run firm Precision Dippings Ltd – has won the Manufacturing Innovation Award at the 2014 Made in the South West award ceremony.

Doctors warn that fracture patients who get their injuries wet in the shower, bath or swimming pool risk weakening their casts and developing skin infections. Inspired by the injury of a family member, the team at Precision Dippings developed Bloccs – reusable, 100% waterproof rubber protectors which can be worn over arm or leg casts to allow people to shower, swim or bathe.

Precision Dippings was established in 1964, building its reputation out of putting the rubber stretch into the Stretch Armstrong toy. The family-run business has since experienced significant growth as a specialist manufacturer of rubber dipped products for everything from medical equipment, to F1 motoring components.

Kate Richards, a director of Precision Dippings said: “Given the impressive shortlist for these awards, we’re very proud to have won and been recognised for what we do.”

Bloccs was among eight winners at the 2014 Made in the South West awards ceremony – an occasion celebrating the region’s manufacturing excellence, and potential as a global manufacturing base. Judges praised Precision Dippings’ entry for Bloccs as a great example of diversification in the sector.

Kate added: “Bloccs are a safer alternative to taping a carrier bag to a limb, balancing on one leg in the shower or attempting to wash with only one hand. These are all things our customers tell us they had to do before finding out about these products.

“People continue to get in touch and tell us how pleased they are with our Bloccs protectors. They seem to give people back the confidence and independence they felt they lost when being fitted with a plaster cast.

“It’s great to have manufactured a product which really makes a difference to people’s lives.”

Earlier this year, Precision Dippings was awarded the Innovator of the Year award at the Bristol Post Awards, in recognition for the innovation behind its Bloccs waterproof protectors. Bloccs protectors slip over injured arm and leg casts like a glove and fit children and adults of all shapes and sizes. They are watertight, self-sealable, reusable and increasingly being recommended by healthcare professionals as a rehabilitation aid.

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