A MANUFACTURING firm has made its first washing machines to press on with £7m plans to become the only UK-based appliance maker, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Ebac, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, say about 30 washers have rolled off its production line.

The family-run company hopes to make up to 200,000 machines every year, creating about 100 jobs, and The Northern Echo understands it is close to securing a supply deal with a well-known retailer.

The UK imports about four million washers a year, with the sector barren after Indesit returned production of Hotpoint machines to Italy.

But Pamela Petty, Ebac’s managing director, said the firm, known for its dehumidifiers, heat pumps and water coolers, was carrying out a raft of tests on its white goods ahead of a launch later this year.

She said: “The production equipment is all in, we have made full washing machines, and the finished articles are around us and going through tests.

“There are probably between 20 and 30 in total; we’ve clocked up thousands of hours of testing and are accelerating that to make sure reliability is not an issue.

“They are not just numbers on a spreadsheet anymore, they are real and in front of us, and we know what they cost to make.”

Mrs Petty said the company, which employs more than 200 staff and started making Norfrost chest freezers last year, had proved any doubters wrong, adding she hoped retailers and customers would now consider its washers.

She added: “We have proved we can make them, and we now need the retailers to get the products into the shops so people can buy them.

“We have done a lot of hard work; all we need now is people to take them.

“If they do that, we can create more jobs.”

Mrs Petty previously appeared alongside former CBI director general Lord Digby Jones on BBC Two show, Digby Jones: The New Troubleshooter, to highlight its first move into freezer making territory, and said the focus on washing machines offered similar exciting opportunities.

She added: “The big boys are making millions of washing machines every year in their factories and we are starting with a clean slate.

“That means we can do things they can’t and we are looking at the pockets of niches, such as more personalised machines, for our attack.

“It means a lot to be known as the company bringing washing machines back to the UK, but we’re not resting on our laurels and won’t be playing the UK card.

“We can stand up against the other manufacturers and are confident we can do well.”