A Norfolk firm is looking ahead to a future of robotics and automation after celebrating a 40-year evolution from cleaning supplier to specialist machine manufacturer.

Family business Hugh Crane Ltd was founded in Acle in 1983, selling cleaning equipment to customers including farmers, hauliers, food factories and councils.

The firm began designing and making its own machinery in the mid-1980s, and has since grown to employ more than 70 staff across its three sites in Norfolk, Whittlesey near Peterborough, and Stamford in Lincolnshire - with a turnover of £8m.

The company still distributes machines and janitorial supplies, but half its revenue now comes from manufacturing equipment like industrial pressure washers, bespoke factory cleaning systems and cask washers for breweries.

Eastern Daily Press: Cleaning machinery being manufactured at Hugh Crane in Acle - Picture: Sonya DuncanCleaning machinery being manufactured at Hugh Crane in Acle - Picture: Sonya Duncan (Image: Sonya Duncan)

Machines currently on the production line include a £1.5m centralised cleaning system for a pet food factory, silo-cleaning equipment for British Sugar, a high-pressure jetting machine for the Port of London Authority to use along the River Thames, and own-brand "Commando" cleaners destined for the pig and poultry industry.

Now, after celebrating the firm's 40th anniversary, founder and managing director Philip Crane is looking ahead to a future driven by mechanisation and a growing need for water, energy and labour efficiencies.

"One of the main things going forward is definitely going to be totally automated or robotic cleaning systems, because clearly it is getting harder to find the labour to do this work," he said.

"We are now starting to do things like this. We've got automated washing of poultry lorries, and we had a flower producer in the Fens where we got a machine installed to clean all the propagation trays automatically, which has done away with a lot of manual work every day.

"We've got the ambition to keep growing. We believe there is a lot of potential in what we are doing, and we see the need to do things to a higher standard, using advancing technologies."

Eastern Daily Press: Cleaning equipment firm Hugh Crane has celebrated its 40th anniversary in Acle - Picture: Sonya DuncanCleaning equipment firm Hugh Crane has celebrated its 40th anniversary in Acle - Picture: Sonya Duncan (Image: Sonya Duncan)