Following the lockdown period we are pleased to announce that we are back in production and welcome new enquiries for both our etching and laser cutting processes, we thought we'd take this opportunity to update you on the past few months and let you know of the changes introduced to ensure the safety of our staff and their families.

PPD Ltd. closed down operations back in March in line with the Government advice, our priority first and foremost was the safety of our staff, familes and our local community to help stop the spread of the virus, during this time our Managing Director and his sons worked for several weeks to produce face visors for local hospitals and care homes who were in desperate need at that time, approximately 5000 clear visors were produced and were greatly received, and so although our etching machines lay still our laser was put to good use during the lockdown!

To prepare for the return of our staff PPD have undergone several major changes to allow safe working during the ongoing risks, etching machines were moved, partitions erected and many many procedural changes that will keep our premises as safe as is possible, staff have begun to return and CAD and Sales Technicians continue to work from home for the time being. The move to home working has been a smooth one, making use of the cloud based systems already in use has been invaluable, systems installed over the past few years allow our CAD and Sales staff to access real time information as to the status of every enquiry and order with us at any given time allowing us to begin operations when the regulations allowed.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers for their patience and understanding over the past few months, we do have a backlog of orders to process but the introduction of a shift based system will allow us to process orders as quickly and efficiently as we can and return to our usual lead times soon.

If you have a requirement for an etched/lasered part then do get in touch by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or give us a call on +44 (0)1546 602 963.

PPD Ltd. will exhibit for the first time at the 'Advanced Engineering 2019' show at the NEC in Birmingham, staged on the 30th and 31st of October we will be part of the UK's largest annual engineering event! 

Our Managing Director John McCartan and Director Stuart McCartan will be on hand to discuss and promote both our etching services and also our ability to laser cut either exclusively or in combination with the etching process to supply bespoke metal parts to a wide range of industries.

You can see us on stand J64 of the exhibition! 

Etch / Laser Combination 

One of PPD's first 'Etch & Laser' projects was on behalf of the Rotary Club of Mid-Argyll, with close links to PPD we offered to produce the Dux medal for our local high school here in Lochgliphead as a donation - we were after all still in the midst of commissioning and needing as many 'test' runs as possible prior to offering as a service to our customers.

The decision was made to produce such a medal on 3mm brass, something that would be impossible using the etch-only process!