A LONG-established Bury manufacturing company formed by two Swiss businessmen is well and truly on a roll!

For this month Excelsior Group International Ltd has notched up an enviable milestone by celebrating its centenary.

And thanks to a new generation of products, allied to fresh contracts, the business which employs 155 people is commanding a firm foothold towards the next 100 years.

Excelsior embraces four separate sites, three in Bury and one in Rochdale. The Group, with a turnover for 2000/01 of £5.7 million, has its head office in Deal Street, Bury, which is also the site of its busy roto-moulding division.

Excelsior Ltd, the case and container division, is based at the town's Irwell Works, off Woodhill Road, while its sheet and toolmaking division, Crossfield Excalibur Ltd, is located at Mitchell Street. The cast aluminium and toolmaking side of the Group is in Rochdale.

Its core business is within the industrial mail order catalogue industry and Excelsior is renowned for its exhibition display products which are exported throughout Europe.

The success of its pop-up exhibition cases abroad is the prime reason why export sales account for 25 per cent of turnover.

The firm also carries out custom moulding work, including bespoke design, for such blue chip clients as JCB, IMI Cornelius, Locker Filtration and Vanguard.

The shrewd decision to diversify into rotational moulding in the 1970s has certainly paid dividends. Excelsior has recently clinched a lucrative contract with lawn mower manufacturers Hayter for the manufacture and supply of plastic rollers. And its distinctive and colourful plastic grit bins are also generating significant interest from local authorities and other prospective customers.

Excelsior can trace its roots back to a company that was founded in 1896 by two Swiss businessmen. In 1902, Excelsior became a limited company, specialising in the manufacture of vulcanised fibre containers and mainly supplied the textile industry.

In the late 1940s, the firm moved from its site in Bacup to Ferngrove Mills on Rochdale Old Road, Bury. In the 1970s, the key decision was taken to manufacture plastic trucks and tanks.

Since 1954, Excelsior has been in the hands of the Fielding family. Present managing director is Mr John Fielding. And in keeping with the family tradition, his son Giles is marketing manager.

Reflecting on the centenary, Mr John Fielding said: "This is a proud moment for us. And when people ask why we're a family firm, I say why not?

"I believe our most important decision was to go into rotational moulding in 1976. That was a big thing."

But the industry is going through somewhat of a hiatus at the moment, he admitted.

"Things are difficult for those involved in plastic processing. It's a matter of us battoning down the hatches and trying to keep our heads above water. Things are very hard at the moment."

Looking to the next 100 years, son Giles declared: "We are aiming to consolidate our position as the number one supplier of plastic materials handling products to the UK industrial mail order market while also aiming to strengthen our position as the world's number one manufacturer of roto-moulded exhibition pop-up cases."