Tyne & Wear Pallets (TWP) is to invest £2m to double capacity at its Gateshead plant and double turnover to £13m a year.
The investment comes on the back of a £1m contract to supply pallets to the north-east and London production facilities of coatings manufacturer Akzo Nobel.
Peter McKenzie, head of business development at TWP, said: “The contract to Akzo Nobel is one we are particularly delighted with at TWP and it is a definite boost to Gateshead and the north-east.
“Apart from our ability to provide quality products on time, we believe we were chosen because we are able to offer a unique package through our recent heavy investment in state of the art heat treating and kilning facilities and the fact that we can supply the licensed Epal Euro pallet.”
The company has invested £500,000 in heat treatment equipment to comply with new legislation and a further £1.5m will be spent extending the premises at its five-acre site and on an additional automated production line to increase the number of pallets it makes from two million to four million a year. TWP hopes to install a further dry storage area this year subject to approval from its local planning authority.
Mr McKenzie said the Epal Euro pallet adhered to strict standards and required a high quality, lean manufacturing approach.
TWP, which was established in 1978 with just one customer, now satisfies 80% of north-east pallet demand and manufactures 40% of the UK’s Euro pallet requirements.
It hopes to increase its workforce from 45 to 60 over the next three years.
