AN innovative aid for drivers is helping to secure Gwent manufacturing jobs and boosting the business of a Blaenavon factory.

Young entrepreneur Matt Aitkenhead designed a sticky dashboard mat to attach items like keys, glasses and mobile phones.

And instead of taking his business to China Mr Aitkenhead chose to manufacture his product, called Sticmatz, at a factory in the Gwent valleys.

Shape Plastics, which employs 20 people in Blaenavon, invested £100,000 in producing Sticmatz, and the success of the product is safeguarding jobs at the plant, which were threatened by overseas competition.

So far Shape, on the Gilchrist Thomas industrial estate, has produced 25,000 units of the £3.99 product, which is sold at Tesco and Asda stores.

Dave Grover, operations director at Shape, said: "Sticmatz has helped us safeguard our business and our workforce, and hopefully now we should be able to expand if it all works out.

"We are looking to hit 50% of the car-owner market, around 15 million drivers, in the next three years.

"The next big step for us is when the garage forecourts start taking it. Then we are looking to launch the mini- Sticmatz, which we think will be a huge success."

Mr Aitkenhead, 25, from Wiltshire, had dozens of offers from manufacturers, but chose to take his business to Blaenavon after advice from UK Trade and Invest.

He said: "We are breaking new ground.

"Our relationship with Shape gives us unequalled quality control. But on cost alone the UK wins over China."

The product, made using reaction moulding, marks a departure for Shape from its usual injection moulding business, which is losing customers to China.

Mr Grover said:"We are actively fighting back against the constant drain of manufacturing work and jobs to China. Injection moulding is on its knees in this country and we have lost some of our biggest customers to China because they are cheaper.

"We can produce a quality product cheaply, and it is a product that will take us to new levels."