NETLON is one of the most outstanding inventions to have come out of East Lancashire. The revolutionary plastic mesh developed in Blackburn made its founder Dr Brian Mercer a multi-millionaire and created a company which is still a world leader in its field.

Today, the company is known as Tensar International, but Blackburn remains at the heart of its truly global operations.

Its head office is at Mill Hill and its main manufacturing plant is at Shadsworth. Together, the two sites employ around 250.

The chief executive is Roger Duckworth, who led the management buy-out of the business from Dr Mercer back in 1994 and has steered the company into new international markets.

He said the company had come a long way since its plastic mesh was used for packaging fruit and garden netting.

As its international patents ran out and it faced growing competition, the company decided to concentrate on its Tensar mesh which has widespread applications in civil engineering projects.

Today, 85 per cent of the company's £30million annual sales are accounted for by Tensar - hence the decision to change the company's name.

"The new name reflects what our customers know about our business," explained Mr Duckworth. "The Tensar brand was growing all the time and it seemed the sensible thing to do."

The Netlon name, however, lives on for a range of mesh products to reinforce grass surfaces. Netlon, for example, has been used at the Melbourne cricket ground in Australia, Hong Kong race course and even on the lawns of Buckingham Palace where it provides the landing zone for the Royal helicopter.

There is also a Netlon Industrial Products division which manufactures mesh for filtration systems and protective sleeving to safeguard goods during production, storage and distribution.

Tensar exports to 40 countries throughout the world and has sister plants in the United States, Japan and China where a new joint venture in the city of Wuhan will be operational next year.

"We are a true world leader in our field," said Mr Duckworth. "We never stand still and are constantly investing in new product development. However, it is not just a question of the quality of our products, it is the fact that we work closely with our customers. We have a big design and application team which works with clients to find solutions to meet their requirements. Another key to our growth has been to build partnerships with our suppliers."

Production at its main factory on the Shadsworth Industrial Estate has doubled over the past five years thanks to a major investment in plant and equipment. For the first time, the company has exported more than half of its production - a figure the company hopes to increase over the next few years.

The development of its Tensar range of mesh over the past 20 years has been the key factor in the company's success. The advanced polypropylene uniaxial geogrids are used in civil engineering projects to reinforce soil structures. Applications include roads, foundations, retaining walls, bridge abutments and steep embankments.

The geogrids are manufactured by extruding a sheet of polyprtopylene, punching an accurate pattern of holes and then stretching the sheet under controlled temperature in two directions.

Invention inspired by mashed potato....

MASHED potato provided the inspiration for the invention of Netlon which made Dr Brian Mercer his fortune and created a world-class industry for Blackburn.

After establishing his home town as an international leader in carpet tufting machinery, he hit on the idea for his 'wonder net' after watching potatoes being mashed.

Dr Mercer sold the multi-million-pound business to his management team in 1994 and moved to Bermuda where he spent his retirement sailing his yacht. He died in 1998 at the age of 70.

His proudest achievement was being made a Fellow of the Royal Society for his role in developing Netlon.

In his will, he left a £10million bequest to the Royal Society which included a portrait of him by artist and close friend Salvador Dali.

The painting - acclaimed as the best the artist had ever done - now hangs at the Royal Society's London headquarters alongside portraits of distinguished scientists including Isaac Newton, Christopher Wren, Charles Darwin and Michael Faraday.