A BRIEF HISTORY OF STARBANK PANEL PRODUCTS

Starbank was established back in 1976 by my parents Gordon and Kathleen Darbyshire initially as a supplier of furniture components to the caravan industry and later for a growing number of industries who required a reliable and quality outsourcing service for the fabrication of high pressure laminates and wood based panel products.

We remain to this day a family run and owned business with a focus on quality of product and service. The company, employing originally just 6 staff, initially traded from rented premises in Appley Bridge nr. Wigan, Lancashire. Having quickly gained a lot of respect and interest throughout the industry by providing, what still is today, a very hands on and proactive approach to laminate fabrication and furniture component manufacturing we quickly out grew the premises we had and decided to move the company forward.

Even though we were just servicing a limited number of industries in and around the north west Starbank's reputation for providing both a quality product and service resulted in an investment in a purpose built factory and a move to Sankey Valley Industrial Estate, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside in April 1991

The original factory, which then occupied 12,000sqft, has been extended and remodelled to accommodate, what is now, our current 3 acre manufacturing base with 70,000 sqft of production floor space.

As the companies internal structure grew over the years our investments then focused on the right people and machinery to target the markets we wanted break into. The investment in machinery included sophisticated CNC’s, Edgebanders, Static Postformers, point to point drilling, routing and shaping. All of this opened up opportunities to supply a wider variety of industry and materials, widening the gap with our competitors.
As a result the last 17 years has seen Starbank's growth average just over 20% per annum, year on year.

Diversification into the Office, Educational, and allied furniture industries has enabled Starbank to remain unique with product offers across many surfacing materials such as HPL, MFC & Compact Laminates.

Our factory houses some of the most sophisticated panel processing machinery in the UK and with over 30 years of fabrication experience and millions of pounds worth of investment behind us we are established as one of the UK’s market leaders.

Today the company employs a highly motivated and skilled workforce of around 100 full time staff with turnover approaching £1m per month. Our staff have a wealth of experience from the Shop-fitting, Distribution, Office Furniture, Laboratory and the Joinery manufacturing sectors creating a unique workforce, working towards one goal of complete customer satisfaction.

We are all proud to operate within a dynamic, forward thinking and technologically advanced company that remains focused on goals of continuous improvement and complete customer satisfaction.

We look forward to working with you in the future.

Phil Darbyshire
Managing Director