Our History

2005
In January 2005, John Shipley retired from the company which became the subject of a management buy out by Michael Punter and Colin Wills. This allowed the company to carry on with the same ethos as previously, giving continuity to staff and business partners.


2002
Saw the acquisition of Thames Adhesives and Tapes Ltd, a major
slitter/converter of the 3M Electrical range of products. This afforded Parafix further penetration into a specialist market and expanded the range available to existing and new customers.


2002
2002 was also the year in which John Shipley, the founder of Parafix,
vacated the Managing Director's desk and became Chairman.  Michael
Punter joined as the new M.D. bringing with him a wealth of experience in the Self-Adhesive Tape industry.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2001
Parafix expands outside the U.K.

With the rapid expansion of manufacturing in Eastern Europe, Parafix saw an opportunity for growth and opened a manufacturing plant in Budapest .

Many international manufacturers are now basing their production in this region and Parafix Hungaria Kft has become an important component supplier to many of them.


1996
Parafix's second site was acquired through the purchase of Scapa Select Distributor 'Adhesive Tapes and Conversions Ltd'.

As well as giving Parafix access to a greater range of products, this almost doubled the size of the manufacturing facility and provided a rapid disaster recovery route.

As a result of further mergers and acquisitions with leading tape and substrate manufacturers, Parafix is able to offer a substantial range of products, processes and applications.

1984
Parafix Tapes and Conversions outgrew the fragmented units in Worthing and moved to its current head office site in Lancing. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the new location was enlarged and improved.

The capabilities, also, were rapidly upgraded as customers became more and more demanding. Adhesive technology had been expanded enormously by the manufacturers and the world started to realise that tape was a reliable medium. In fact it was stronger than mechanical fixings in certain applications.

Quality also became a bigger issue and Parafix became acredited to ISO 9001.

1972
As adhesive fixings started to become acceptable, Parafix Tapes and Conversions was formed to meet the growing demand for bespoke items. This led to a need for more and more machinery and space and the modest premises in Worthing soon became too small. Over the next few years, new units were taken on in the same area.

1969
Parafix Ltd was founded by Mr John Shipley, in Sussex in the south of England . It quickly became 3M’s preferred distributor of Industrial Tapes and Adhesives products in that area. BS that time, adhesive tape technology was in its infancy and the products were, generally, quite basic.