A THRIVING Bolton company has achieved success both home and away, which is reflected in an upsurge in sales and staff.

Assembly Solutions Ltd (ASL) is a family-run sub-contract manufacturing company, specialising in electrical wiring products and control/instrumentation panels.

From its factory at Terence House in Nile Street, the company sells its products to industrial customers, primarily in the UK. But 10 per cent of its sales are exported to Europe and China.

ASL is now regarded as one of the UK leaders in the manufacture of hybrid wiring systems for electrical and diesel vehicles. This year, sales have grown by 20 per cent while the company has increased its workforce from 35 to 50 over the same period.

The booming business was set up in 1995 by current managing director Graham Balshaw. From original rented premises at the Bolton Enterprise Centre, ASL now owns a 32,000 sq ft factory. And 19 years on, the company is proud to have retained many of its original customers while nine staff have each completed 10 years of service.

ASL has bucked the difficult period in manufacturing over the past few years which affected many firms, particularly those engaged in the engineering sector.

Mr Balshaw said: “While many of our competitors were cutting costs and staff numbers, ASL made the bold and optimistic approach to invest heavily in sales and marketing and also in our technical capabilities with regards to new markets, such as nuclear.

“Our future plan is to grow sales by more than 17 per cent. This will result in our workforce increasing to more than 100 staff, a further increase of 50 from today’s level.”