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With the new merged company Tong Peal officially trading from April 1, the manufacturing of vegetable handling machinery is being concentrated at the Spilsby factory. More than £200,000 has been spent already in expanding the stores, design office and storage area, and with a work force of 130 the firm is busy meeting buoyant orders for its products.

When the merger between Tong Engineering and Peal Engineering was announced in November 2004, no redundancies were envisaged and with the exception of employees who have opted to retire the whole of the Peal workforce has now moved to Spilsby.

"We now have 50 per cent more production capacity at Spilsby," says Charles Tong, chairman and managing director of Tong Peal, one of the leaders in UK and global markets. "As the business expands, we shall also be placing more work, particularly fabrication, with sub-contractors - both existing and new ones.

"In the domestic market we have secured major orders for constructing new grading and packing lines for potatoes, onions, carrots and a range of salad and fruit crops, while overseas our machinery continues to be in demand especially with customers seeking to match the high UK standards for the supply of fresh produce."