Partner Article

Ebac targets pastures new

THE boss of a North East manufacturer has scotched rumours that he is planning on transferring his business to Poland by moving into a new plant in the region with a plan to pioneer the next generation of green technology.

After 51 years working in the manufacturing trade, Ebac boss John Elliott has moved his company to a new home away from its Bishop Auckland HQ, as it looks to pioneer revolutionary green technology in his native region.

According to Mr Elliott the move pours cold water on speculation that he is planning on shifting his business to eastern Europe - a rumour which, although unfounded, he says has dogged the company in recent months.

John Elliott, whose company said: “We’ve moved to Newton Aycliffe and I have no intention of taking Ebac to Poland. We have a philosophy of making our own components and this new factory will allow us to continue doing that.

“We don’t have to use another country to be able to compete. Our only focus is on bringing in new custom, working with our current ones and being efficient. We can do all of this right here in the North East.

“We’re an integrated business with lots of experience and it would be very hard to replace that if we moved elsewhere. We buy components from China and Poland but that’s where it ends.”

Supermarket chain Tesco has now bought the outdated St Helen Auckland site, where John Elliott built the water cooler and dehumidifier business into a global force.

Despite some initial uncertainty over the move, the 220 staff are now moving into the old Schott glass factory on Aycliffe Industrial Park, where it will now attempt to establish itself as a leader for a new cutting edge energy technology.

The Ebac boss has predicted that more and more homes in the UK will be heated by a new environmentally friendly system and is looking forward to capitilising on the relatively unknown market.

“We’ve developed a range of new heat pumps, which will be available next year,” said Mr. Elliott.”

“This will be a far cheaper way to heat your homes and will eventually replace gas. They’re completely energy efficient and we’ll have a full range available in 2011.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .