A BORDERS-based company has unveiled ambitious plans to increase annual production by 50 per cent across the UK and Middle East by 2020.

Leading cleaning and detergent manufacturer RP Adam Ltd (Arpal Group) will invest more than £2.75 million into its operations in Selkirk, UK, and in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The funding is for a two-year bid to reach production targets of 12 million litres of liquid and 650,000kgs of powder product to satisfy increased customer demand. Some 31 new high-end service jobs will be created, mainly at the group headquarters in Selkirk and in Dubai.

The project is the final phase of Arpal Group’s five-year “20/20” investment programme, launched in 2015 as the fourth-generation family-owned firm approached its 125th year in business.

So far, more than £1.5m has already been injected in the global business as part of the 20/20 programme, creating 20 extra jobs.

The company now employs more than 100 people and services customers across a wide range of sectors in the UK as well as operating successful subsidiaries and distribution partnerships across the Middle East, including Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE.

In the UK, this next phase of investment will focus on factory, equipment and warehouse expansion, in particular creating new filling lines for 10-litre laundry drums required to service the UK’s fast-growing care-home sector. Investment in the Middle East will be centred on geographic expansion in new markets such as Oman and Saudi Arabia, as well as meeting increased demand from the luxury hotel sector in the region.

Martin Carroll, Arpal Group’s technical director, believes the next phase of investment makes a significant statement of intent . “These are exciting times for Arpal Group both at home and abroad,” he said. “Our increased production and turnover targets reflect our aggressive ambition to take on the large global competition as well as the smaller ‘no frills’ suppliers.”

“The UK remains the engine room of our 20/20 ambition and the next two years will focus primarily on factory expansion at our Selkirk HQ to allow more space for raw materials, packaging, and production lines to meet increased demand, as well as a new purpose-built £500,000 on site warehousing facility. Carroll added: “In the Middle East and especially the UAE, we are continuing to see growth in core sectors such as the luxury hotel market, airline catering and hospitality, but we are also developing new markets with innovative partnership-based business models in Oman and Saudi Arabia. The UAE in particular will be a huge growth area in the run-up to 2020 as Dubai gears up for the World Expo.”

Central to Arpal Group’s UK expansion strategy will be a significantly increased turnover with national distribution partners.

Group sales and marketing director Max Adam, the fourth-generation Adam to be involved in the business, said: “We want to grow our UK distributor network, especially in niche markets where our service offering and commitment to customer service provides something a little different and more personal than the multi-national supplier or the ‘cheap and cheerful’ box movers.

“We are focusing focus on what we do best, and that is developing and manufacturing high quality cleaning solutions backed by an outstanding service to end-user business consumers.”