Initially, the young company worked from a garage, but by 1976 a company building with an area of approx. 110 square metres was built. With 4 employees by now, a turnover of £86,000 was achieved in 1976. The next step was to take over the Ferromatik agency for Great Britain. From 1985, the company focused on the peripheral business, which was accompanied by the takeover of all shares in Colortronic LTD and the end of the Ferromatik agency.

Due to the steady expansion of the customer base and turnover, the company building became too small, so that in 1987 an area of around two hectares was acquired and the construction of a new building could begin. Two years later, in the summer of 1989, the company moved into the new building with spacious office, workshop and storage areas.

The next generation, Karl Miller, joined the company in 1990. In 1995, the company building was further enlarged to 2600 square metres, including 450 square metres of office space. In the same year, Karl Miller became a member of the management board. In 2005, Motan Colortronic developed the part finder, an Internet-based programme for customers to search for spare parts. From then on, customers were able to order common spare parts online.

In 2007, Erwin Miller largely retired from day-to-day business.  Of course, he was still in the office regularly and remained well informed at all times. The introduction of SAP in 2008 meant a huge amount of work in the short term, but this led to a considerable simplification of processes in the medium and long term.

2010 was a decisive year in the company’s history: as Colortronic GmbH was taken over by Motan, Motan UK LTD and Colortronic UK LTD merged to form Motan Colortronic LTD. With the enlarged product portfolio, new customer groups were opened up. The customer bases of both companies were merged, creating new synergies. The expertise of the former Motan employees, who were fully integrated into the existing workforce, also offered great potential.

The continuous expansion of the customer base, combined with the strong demand for system solutions and training measures, led to a further remodelling of the company building in 2019. From then on, an enlarged Tech Centre with a large showroom, training rooms and a workshop was available. For example, a conveying line of up to 360 metres has been created for conveying tests.

The energy optimisation of the company building began in 2021. Among other things, all lamps were converted to LED technology with motion detectors. In 2022, solar modules with an output of 45 kW/peak were installed on the roof and e-charging points were installed. This generates around 50% of the required electrical energy.

Apart from the day-to-day business, Motan Colortronic Ltd was and is heavily involved in the plastics industry as well as in the social environment of Chesterfield. Motan Colortronic Ltd has been honoured several times for its services to the plastics industry. Among other things, Erwin Miller was honoured with the ‘Unsung Hero’ award at the Plastics Innovation Awards (PIA) in 2017 for his achievements.

 

In 2024, Karl Miller was named one of the 75 most influential people in the UK plastics industry. As part of Interplas’ 75th anniversary celebrations, 75 individuals were honoured who were considered particularly valuable by the industry itself for their contribution to the development of the sector.

Motan Colortronic Ltd is also very active socially. For example, it supports the organisation ‘Community Save a Life Scheme’ (CSALS). CSALS offers a free online first aid course and practical first aid training in collaboration with Virtual College and the local Ashgate Hospice who provide palliative and end of life care across the local area.

A special honour was bestowed on Erwin Miller posthumously in 2022: in recognition of his support, the newly built training ground in Hasland was renamed the Erwin Training Ground in memory of the late Erwin Miller.

Motan Colortronic Ltd is part of the Motan group, which was founded in 1949 and is based in Constance (Germany). Customers in the UK and Ireland include small independent companies to multinationals with customers dating back to the 1970’s still working together with the company.

After 50 years Motan Colortronic Ltd now has around 30 employees and represents Motan, swift by Motan and Colortronic as well as Regloplas, Herbold, Sesotec and Industrial Frigo. Motan Colortronic Ltd supports its customers with regionally based, highly qualified service technicians and has a comprehensive stock of goods and spare parts on site.