A Horwich company is looking to the future following a recent acquisition.

Production Equipment Ltd in New Brunswick Street is also celebrating achievement of the BS EN ISO 9001 quality standard.

The company, which designs and manufactures hydraulics systems, has come a long way since it was established in 1977 in Wood Street, Horwich by Edward Lomax and Terry Holt.

It transferred to the present site in 1982 and has continued to expand ever since.

The acquisition of Partridge Hydraulics in St Albans - a company with a workforce of seven - gives Production Equipment the opportunity to develop further in the south east of the country.

Mr Lomax, the Managing Director, said today that other acquisitions were in the pipeline and that the combined annual turnover of £4 million was projected to reach £10 million in the next five years. "This is bound to mean more jobs," Mr Lomax said.

The company has recently occupied two more units on the existing site and there are currently 41 people based there.

"There may be additional premises in the next few years," Mr Lomax said.

The quality award was presented this week by Mr Julian Massey from Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance.

The project was led by 25-year-old Paul Taylor in conjunction with Quality Manager Gary Owen.

Paul, a former Smithills School pupil who started with the company as a shop floor apprentice, was sponsored by his company on a Business Studies degree course at Bolton Business School.

He will also graduate with a diploma in marketing this term and has just been accepted on an MBA programme in Small Business Management at the Business School, part of Bolton Institute.

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