Shropshire Star

VIDEO: £3 million Filtermist factory unveiled in Telford

A new £3 million factory has been unveiled in Shropshire, in a move which will see it grow its business and create jobs.

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Filtermist makes oil mist extraction units to remove harmful airborne elements from factories around the world.

It has spent the last year building a new factory on the growing T54 business park on the east side of Telford.

The official ribbon cutting ceremony marked the company's move to the new facility, which has seen it relocate from Bridgnorth where the company was founded almost 50 years ago.

Some of the company's 46 distributors from countries around the world visited the Telford site, which was built by Shrewsbury-based Morris Property. to celebrate the opening.

Joakim Westh of Filtermist's Swedish parent company Absolent was handed the job of cutting the ribbon.

Managing director James Stansfield said: "This gives us a great base to really grow the business. It's the next step in our growth plans, especially in terms of exports, which are a big area for us.

"We have already seen the benefits of moving to Telford, which we didn't realise we were missing – we are very close to some suppliers, and the transport links are great.

"As things grow we will have to take on more people, and we have already taken on two apprentices which has been great."

He added: "It's a shame to leave Bridgnorth though. We were there for over 45 years, and it's where Filtermist started.

"We moved here because there was nowhere in Bridgnorth,we spoke to Shropshire Council and they admitted there was nowhere to move in the time scale we wanted. We were just glad to move somewhere we could retain our workforce."

The company is now looking at expanding its business, which currently turns over around £11.5 million a year, employs 55 people, and exports 90 per cent of its products to 60 countries.

"We are looking to grow that turnover substantially, and we are going to target growth of 50 per cent over the next five or six years," Mr Stansfield said.

"We want to grow our market share and really concentrate in certain areas."

Filtermist's products are used in factories around the world, and it supplied a system which was installed in the new Jaguar Land Rover plant beside the M54.

It has performed strongly in South East Asia and Russia, among other areas.

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