A NORTH Yorkshire firm specialising in providing technical, manufacturing and maintenance services for top companies today celebrated its first birthday with the announcement that it has clinched a contract worth at least £100,000.

TEK2 Technical Solutions, formed by Jeff Metcalfe and David Fishwick, two former maintenance managers at Nestl Rowntree, in York, has been chosen for a seven-month contract to provide interim maintenance management for pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, in Gargrave, near Skipton.

The two men will be formulating procedures as well as managing the maintenance force for the company, which manufacturers swabs for operations.

It is the latest in TEK2's growing portfolio of clients, many of them in the food sector. Successes include confectionery company Needler Bluebird, of Hull, HP Bulmers brewery, in Hereford, Essex & Suffolk Water, Liverpool confectionery company Toms UK, and fibreglass products maker Owens Corning, of Brighouse.

The contracts mean that, from a standing start 12 months ago, TEK2 has generated a turnover of about £500,000 and added three engineers to its staff.

The new company is backed by MCP Management Consultants, of Birmingham, part of MCP International, which has offices in Europe, Australasia, the Middle East and the USA. The two men left Nestl Rowntree to join MCP in 1999, and last year formed the new venture.

Mr Metcalfe, who operates TEK2 from his home in Green View, Tollerton, said: "We knew from our research that there was a gap in the market for external maintenance support services because of how the shortage of skilled engineers has increased in recent years.

"We have now taken the business on a step and have our people on medium-term projects at seven UK companies - and not just the food/confectionery sector that we set out to target.

"The connections with the MCP Management Consultants' Group have enabled us to secure a real market presence and our expansion is set to continue through the next 12 months."

Mr Fishwick, of Wand Hill, Haxby, said: "The Johnson & Johnson contract was a great birthday present, but we simply don't have time to celebrate, with a number of clients lining up for our services."

Updated: 09:59 Tuesday, April 30, 2002