Managing director Dave Roberts said: 'With our technical ability and scope of supply, now is the time to expand into new industries.' With a UK product line that includes tray sealing, vacuum and form/fill/seal packaging equipment with machines for portioning, filling, sealing and slicing, the company hopes to develop the fresh produce market with its innovative packaging and processing solutions. Its equipment can be used to stand alone or networked to create a complete solution. The extensive product range enables the company to meet the demands of almost any size of operation.

Speaking of the incentives behind the expansion, Roberts added: ' Our outward moves are part of developing the business. The fresh produce industry is something that we see a great deal of developments from - but it is quite a new area for us.' As part of their additional services, the company provides a dedicated technical help desk, on-call after hour service, network field service technicians, a comprehensive spare parts inventory, extensive parts exchange programme and product support specialists. Roberts added: 'The food industry is more and more demanding and we can't afford for our customers to be let down - customer service is very important and we support our customers from the word go.

'The fresh produce industry is going through a change and there is a lot of work to be done in terms of producing packs and how produce will be stored, The technology is there but there is work to be done on the gas and work to be done on marketing.' With an offer that includes a full range of of preparation equipment and packaging. Roberts concluded: 'It's a one stop shop.'