Business profile

South Lanarkshire is fast becoming renowned for the sheer number of innovative products being made by local companies.

But one company that is a world leader in its field is Uddingston based Xplora Products.

Set up in 1990 by former toolmaker and diver, Jim McLachlan, the company has gone from strength to strength and has built a solid reputation for quality products.

So what exactly does Xplora Products produce? Well, it's main products are floats and 220m ladders for mussel farming. It has also developed a special floating combine harvester for the industry which was recently launched at the Aquaculture International 2000 conference in Glasgow.

Basically, how Jim's products work is that the ladder is placed ten metres under the water and suspended from a line of floats. The microscopic mussel larvae collects naturally on the ladder and grows for a period of two years to maturity. The ladder is then taken on board the harvester by conveyor in a continuous line. Brushes then sweep the mussels off of the ladder giving a continuous mussel culture and harvesting system. It's a much quicker process thant by the traditional single rope way that was harvested by hand.

Jim said: "Originally, mussel farmers would grow mussels on a single piece of rope with a single peg sticking out at regular intervals. The mussels then hang on to the rope and pegs. The problem with this method is that you can?t adapt it for automation. The pegs get caught in the mechanism."

"Our product looks like a rope ladder and its design not only increases the number of mussels that grow on it, but can be reeled in easily by machine rather than by hand. It means the farmers can cut labour costs while getting a bigger return on their product."

So how did someone who started off working as a toolmaker with Hoover in Cambuslang end up producing ladders for mussel farmers?

Wel, after leaving Hoover, Jim went into commercial diving and worked freelance for a Scottish company who were installing fish cages and realted equipment in Kuwait. After a few years abroad, her returned home with a few ideas of his own.

He originally set up McLachlan Toolmakers which his brother Scott now manages. This company manufactures plastic moulds to quality assurance standard ISO 9002. However, through his diving connections, Jim was finding that he was being approached by fish far farmers with requests for help in solving their particular problems. He put his toolmaking skills to good use and Xplora Products was born.

"What I was finding was that mussel farmers were coming to me with various problems and asking if I could help. I began to come up with a few ideas and that eventually led me into starting up Xplora and to market the mussel ladder. We make all our products inhouse."

When Jum launched Xplora there were only around ten mussel farmers in Scotland. Now he has around 60 different customers in Scotland alone and sells his products to clients in the Falkland Islands, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, the USA and Spain.

"I got involved when mussel farming was a young industry. The industry is growing at a rapid rate and we now have clients around the world."

The business' success has seen it grow over the past few years. From employing two staff, there are now ten people working for the toolmaking company and seven for Xplora.

It also received financial help to the tune of £15,000 from South Lanarkshire Council's Business Loans Scheme in 1996.

Although they have no expansion plans this year, Jim says they are considering putting in more machinery and taking on more staff in 2001.

Business South Lanarkshire - Autumn 2000

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