A SPORTS pitch manufacturer is aiming to produce one million square metres of artificial turf every year as it invests in new machinery and takes on extra staff.

SIS Pitches, based at Glasson Industrial Estate, Maryport, is entering its busiest time of the year as it supplies SISTurf to sports grounds around the UK, with up to 40 customers, including football teams Celtic and Rangers, Saracens rugby club and Loughborough University.

The company is part of the global SIS Group, which has sites across the world.

Chief operating officer Rob Hope says about 70 per cent of its work is done between May and August, when organisations such as schools, universities and sports teams have downtime to carry out maintenance.

As demand for its products grows the company has invested £500,000 in two new tufting machines, which insert the synthetic yarn into backing material.

The new machines are able to increase the speed of production, as well as the flexibility for making different types of products.

"They give us an increased capacity to be able to improve and increase our output from around 600,000 square metres to about 800,000," said Rob.

Once the factory has seen the benefits in efficiency, cost saving and output, he hopes to invest in two more machines at a similar price, taking its overall capacity to one million square metres a year. 

While 90 per cent of the company’s business involves supplying the turf which SIS installs around the UK and the world, the factory also provides products to third party customers in Britain.

Rob says the potential market share of these customers has grown since Brexit as it is no longer as easy for them to import products.

"We knew that we wouldn't be able to get to a million square metres just from SIS, so what we had to do was get five or six external customers to be able to get to that million square metres,” he said.

"With the two new tufting machines we've got now, because of the flexibility and the increased production spread, we're in a position where we've won three or four contracts last year and this year.”

He hopes the combination of the new machinery and new customers coming on board will enable them to hit the million square metre target within the next two years.