A North-East firm that started out selling microphone equipment to the radio industry is now at the cutting edge of HD television broadcasting. As it celebrates its millionth order, Business Editor Owen McAteer speaks to the Canford Group AS a major provider of broadcast equipment from cables to connectors, chief executive Leif Friestad's description of Canford's purpose is less technical than you might imagine.

"We are often described as providing the widgets and glue" he jokes, about the North-East company that now employs 190 people on five sites and has an annual turnover of about £17m.

Mr Friestad who took up his role earlier this year is now implementing a five-year plan to drive that turnover up to £25m, enter new international markets and also make The Sunday Times list of the best 100 firms to work for.

The firm, based in Washington, Wearside, manufactures and supplies the interconnection equipment that enables high-definition signals to be routed and transmitted from outside broadcast trucks to broadcast satellites.

The firm includes Sky and the BBC among its clients and secured a position at the forefront of broadcast technology after it reengineered basic connection systems to allow it to handle the latest generation high-definition (HD) TV signals.

Although its role may be unheralded, without the technology it provides billions of people around the world would not have been able to watch the royal wedding in April.

In addition, it enables broadcasters to show everything from live football World Cup matches and Olympic sporting events to the Great North Run and weekly Premier League games.

As we speak, the firm has just reached an important milestone, dispatching its millionth order and celebrating 35 years in business.

The millionth order was placed by Edinburgh-based Northern Light and, in keeping with Canford's progression, was for no ordinary project.

The equipment was for work being carried out as part of a £5.5m refurbishment of the Watford Colosseum Theatre, chosen as the location for the soundtrack recordings for The Lord of The Rings, The Star Wars films and The Sound of Music because of its acoustics.

It is a far cry from the "one man and his dog in an old colliery building." start for Canford in 1976.

In those days, it made equipment for the radio industry, but has since developed its portfolio to stand at the cutting edge of HD technology.

Iain Elliott, Canford's largest shareholder, who founded the business with fellow North-East entrepreneur Hugh Morgan Williams, never believed that it would become the largest in its field in the UK, with more than 14,000 product ranges.

He said: "Absolutely no way at all. I was an engineer at Metro Radio in 1976 and wanted to move on from the operational side of broadcasting, but still to remain in the same industry.

"Through working in radio I realised there were opportunities to manufacture and supply all sorts of specialist equipment and consumables into the rapidly growing media business.

"My idea was simply to find a niche that provided gainful employment for me and one or two other people here in the North-East.

"However, I got something wrong - we grew and grew, seemingly unstoppably.

"Joking aside, the two things that mattered most to me then, still do today. That's creating jobs within this region and being a manufacturer - not just a box shifter.

"It can be difficult in the modern era to compete against the mass-produced products from the Far East, but it is much less of an issue in our business.

"Frequently, the need is for small runs of very specialist products, we and other UK companies have a competitive advantage.

"The Far East is set up to produce hundreds of thousands of a single product, while we are set up to produce tens of products of hundreds of types and can switch production in minutes. That's where Britain can win."

Mr Elliott stepped down as chief executive of Canford several years ago, but still plays an active role in the business.

He said: "It can be a very lonely place at the top running an international company with almost 200 employees.

"Inevitably, more and more, admin takes over from the things you really like doing.

"Nowadays, I am doing what I really love - I look after the product introduction and development. I can honestly say I am happier now than I ever was as a chief executive."

That role passed to Mr Friestad when Charles Kennedy retired earlier this year.

It is a very different marketplace now to the one Canford entered, with HD television common and 3D hailed as the next big thing.

Mr Friestad said: "We have to stay ahead at all times.

Because of our role, sometimes we are a bit down the food chain so we have to work with people to understand what their needs are and what they are doing.

"It is hard for us to drive trends, but we need to be on top of them.

"For example, HD has become huge. For 3D, it is very early days."

"This year, the aim is for turnover of £17.2m and we have a plan for going from a good company to a great company. We could even exceed the £25m turnover.

"The organisation has gone through significant changes and we delivered the best month the company has had in July.

"We are going to have a lot more focus on product development."

As well as strengthening the UK sales team, it will include breaking into some of the so-called BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, as well as the Middle East, Indonesia and South Africa.

Mr Friestad said: "I am heading out on a trade mission to Brazil with UK Trade and Investment so we are setting out to explore that market.

"We already have many loyal customers in Russia, we do good business and could do more. We are setting up a sales office in Dubai and have appointed a person who will be starting on January 1.

"We recently secured £500,000 out of Turkey for an installation in Kazahkstan.

The Turkish and Greek countries are becoming attractive.

"The one area we are shying away from is the US, because there is a saturated market already."

Another area where Mr Friestad sees increased business coming from is the internet.

He said: "I see a lot of our growth coming from online sales. We already have a good proportion, but if you look at the competitors we benchmark ourselves against, they have a much greater percentage."

Despite pushing changes, Mr Friestad has been impressed with what he has observed so far.

He said: "I have been able to establish it is a company that people love to do business with, it is a nice company, very friendly and you can see that right through the full business."