Middlesbrough manufacturing firm ESCS could be set for a 50% boost to turnover after attracting a growing interest from China.

At present the fire protection company has a turnover of £500,000. It sent its self-designed ES300 TL system for demonstrations with a major gas and oil firm based in Qingdao, China.

Talks are now underway with regard to the Chinese company possibly ordering 10 of the machines in a £250,000 deal.

ESCS makes specialist corrosion control and spray application equipment. It already boasts major gas and oil operators in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia among its customers. However, managing director Shaun McDonald believes that the ES300 TL has the ability to revolutionise the fire protection sector.

The specialist machines spray thick coatings of intumescent epoxy materials to protect steel structures from the threat of fire.

ESCS already makes and exports the ES430 from its new premises on South Tees Freight Park. The ES430 is a bigger applicator of passive fire protection, but on request from its Chinese customer produced the smaller, faster version.

‘A real innovation’

McDonald devised ESCS himself and invested £27,000 into the planning, design and research of the machine, with manufacturing support from Middlesbrough companies Donoghue Engineering and Teesside Precision Engineering.

He now believes that after initial trials at Azko Nobel in Felling, the new machine is going to be a big hit throughout the sector.

McDonald said: “I knew it would do a job, as it will reduce the set-up time and application process on smaller jobs by at least two thirds, but it far surpassed even my own high expectations during the testing.

“This is a real innovation because it will save so much time. There is nothing like this on the market so I think these machines will fly off the shelf once people out there know about it.”