Redcar-based Sealpump Engineering Ltd, which designs and supplies industrial spray-nozzle systems, has doubled the size of its premises and is boosting its apprenticeship plans, as it head towards a turnover of £2 million.

The company was the first tenant to move into UK Steel Enterprise’s Innovation Centre at Redcar when it opened in 2000, and it has taken on additional workshop and office space since then.

This latest move — into one of the centre’s largest workshops — means that it can invest further in testing facilities and expand its team of six designers and sales engineers.

Now run by Stuart Brown and Stephen Larkin, Sealpump (www.sealpump.com) was founded by the late Tony Larkin nearly four decades ago. Its spray systems are involved in coating food products, cooling steel and cleaning conveyor belts, as well as controlling dust, odour and humidity.

Its world-wide customer base includes companies in India, the USA, China, Poland, Canada and Chile operating in the food, pharmaceutical, electronics, steel, chemicals, mining and automotive sectors. The company has recently been appointed as the UK agent for Merlin, an Austrian manufacturer with products that complement its own range.

Mr Brown said: “We upgraded our spray testing facilities in 2015, and this new workshop enables us to invest further in testing.

"We are now occupying about eight times our original office and workshop space in the Innovation Centre, and it has been a great place to grow the business, as the facilities and support are first-class.

"Our first apprenticeship has also been a great success, so we are looking to take on another apprentice.”