BOSSES at Precision Polymer Engineering spoke of their plans to open a factory in Texas after winning the manufacturing award.

The Greenbank Road, Blackburn, company has a sterling reputation for high performance manufacturing.

Human resources director, Gary Rae, said winning was ‘absolutely wonderful’ after being presented with a trophy by Jawid Hussain, president of the award’s sponsor, Accrol Papers.

He said: “We believe passionately in East Lancashire and we believe passionately in the people we recruit from this area, and for them to get the recognition, not us, is first class.

“We made sure we took a crew that works in our business, not a team of managers, (to the awards) and they got the recognition they deserved.”

Founded in 1975, Precision Polymer Engineering is proud of its reputation for high quality manufacturing but Mr Rae said the future was ‘servicing high end, quality customers’.

He said: “There’s enough of that in the marketplace to grow in East Lancashire, making good profits and securing a future here in Pennine Lancashire.

“It isn’t about selling cheap and one-off wins. We are here for the long haul and we are here to make good money for everybody.”

The company, founded in 1975, creates moulded rubber seals, rubber gaskets and other rubber components for industries across the globe.

Turning over £30.8million every year, and employing nearly 300, the company has offices in American, Europe, and Asia, and plans to expand into America.

Mr Rae added: “We are going to take the DNA which is embedded here in Blackburn and place that into, more than likely, Texas. “They will have to follow the model and the standard that is set in Blackburn, and if they do that, we will have great success and we will bring even more work into the Blackburn facility as a result of that.”

Part of the new space will be dedicated to cleanroom moulding technology. Engineers are also designing and testing seals on the next generation of engines for the aerospace industry.