Teal & Mackrill continues to expand

More than a century since it was established and carved out a niche manufacturing hard-wearing paints to protect the hulls of Humber’s once vast fishing fleet, Teamac manufacturer Teal & Mackrill is continuing to expand.

The family owned and managed company is growing and increasing production capacity with a new factory building opening shortly as demand for its paints across the world strengthens. The company, run by MD Geoff Mackrill, grandson of co-founder Harold Mackrill, has invested more than £700,000 in new labs and equipment, extending its Hull manufacturing facility.

The development fits Teamac’s long term strategy of focusing on its strengths and investing in its products and people. One of these latest developments is the launch of its Teamac Antifouling A at Seawork 2015, a new formulation of antifouling which is suitable for aluminium hulls.

“It’s designed for work boats going offshore,” said Mr Mackrill. “It’s suitable for any hull and will take speeds up to 25 to 30 knots.

“The structure of the paint has been reformulated. We’ve boosted the biocide and are using a different form of copper which won’t react with aluminium.”

The company is also launching a new colour of its popular Suregrip anti-slip deck paint following demand from its customers wanting it in cream and extended the range of colours of its two pack high performance topcoat.

“As the global economy has exited recession, we have seen almost all our markets return to pre-downturn buoyancy and demand increase,” explained Mr Mackrill who explained that the company’s export market is particularly strong with paints sold around the globe from New Zealand to Norway, Holland and Hong Kong.

“But we have been around long enough to know that we must continue to look at how we best serve the market and maximise our sales opportunities.

“For us that means we need more production space and to improve the efficiency of our manufacturing processes across the factory – and that’s where our new factory will benefit us most.”

The company, which is also known for its Coo-Var range, is opening up new opportunities with the new products and also growing its own label product with says Mr Mackrill, its in-house technical expertise remaining one of its greatest assets.

“Our focus remains on being the best specialist paints manufacturer, offering products that add value in volumes that will always be relatively small.”

He continued: “Our marine heritage is extremely important but as the UK fishing and general shipping fleets have declined, our emphasis has shifted to other markets.

“That’s not to say the Teamac brand is on the decline – the reverse is actually the case with the brand still accounting for 25% of our sales and the export market growing.”

The new factory extension will give Teal & Mackrill an increased capacity of 25,000 to around 35,000 litres per week and is essential for the company’s future in a new era. He added: “Our location is excellent to serve the national and international markets and we have a superb network of local suppliers that we support as much as possible. We’re really excited about the future and we hope our customers, staff and suppliers will reap the benefits of this investment in the long term.”