A TEESSIDE company is enjoying success at home and abroad.

Tomlinson Hall and Co, the Billingham-based pump distributor and manufacturer, was named named SME of the Year in the North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) Annual Awards which were held at Hardwick Hall Hotel, Sedgefield.

The firm was recognised for its outstanding performance which saw sales rise 62 per cent between 2009-13 through a mixture of new product development, exports and regional collaborations.

The company is an approved global distributor for major industrial pump brands – including DEPA and ELRO – but also manufactures its own Liquivac – an innovative liquid ring vacuum pump which can handle combinations of liquids, gases and fine solids to perform a huge range of operations.

The Liquivac pump was launched in the Middle East in December after Tomlinson Hall was one of three winners in a special ‘Golden Ticket’ competition to visit Dubai and explore business opportunities.

Organised by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), in conjunction with Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and the Millennium Plaza Hotel Dubai, the visit enabled them to promote Liquivac to potential users and distributors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Liquivac has huge potential there as its design allows the transfer of liquids and combinations of liquids, gases and fine solids. It can also operate with long suction lines allowing the pump to be situated a long distance from the source of the liquid or material it is transferring.

Its possible applications include desalination – which provides most of Dubai’s fresh water – and pumping water to aquariums and water features, which are popular in Dubai’s leisure developments.

The pump’s flexibility means it is also ideal for use in the petrochemical related industries, such as in spill recovery, chemical processing and pumping bilge water from tankers.

Colin Simpson, company business development director, said: "It’s a huge honour to be named SME of the Year in the NEPIC Awards, and a great achievement for the company and its staff. NEPIC does incredible work for the process industry in the North East, and its members are some of the most innovative and dynamic businesses in the UK, so to be recognised in this way makes us very proud.

"In addition, we are committed to flying the flag for North East manufacturing abroad and our market visit to Dubai opened up many opportunities for Tomlinson Hall in the Middle East, where there is substantial demand for Liquivac.

"The market visit, awards triumph and re-launch and re-brand of Liquivac have combined to make this a highly exciting time for the company, and we look forward to what the future holds."

The firm was founded in 1919 and is a co-founder of the Pump Distributors Association. The NEPIC awards also commended the company for its support of apprenticeships and local community sport projects. The company donated its £2,000 prize money to Priors Mills CE Primary School in Billingham.

The awards recognise outstanding achievement in the process sector. NEPIC – the first cluster in the UK to receive the Gold Label for Cluster Management Excellence – boasts hundreds of member companies from across a wide range of industries.

Tomlinson Hall has won the UK Pump Distributor of the Year Award four times at the British Pump Industry Awards, most recently in April last year. It is also a finalist for the 2015 UK Pump Distributor of the Year Award, the winner of which will be announced in March.