12-12-11 Zonal opens £1m carbon neutral manufacturing site

Point of Sale specialist Zonal has relocated its manufacturing and logistics operations to a £1m state-of-the-art facility on Livingston's Brucefield Industrial Estate in a move that will double the company's manufacturing capacity and help boost turnover to £50m in the next five years.

Zonal is the leading supplier of Point of Sale (POS) hardware and software products to top-tier hospitality and leisure businesses in the UK and currently turns over £30m. Its customers include JD Wetherspoons, Greene King, Butlins and Fullers.

As well as streamlining Zonal's operations, the refurbished 12,000 sq ft building has been redesigned to reduce the company's impact on the environment. A 50 kw Solar PV (photovoltaic) farm "one of the largest private solar-generated systems in Scotland" has been fitted to the roof of the building and will power the entire site, including its low energy lighting, heating and air conditioning systems.

The new building replaces the former school in Edinburgh where Zonal has manufactured, stored and distributed its products for the last 15 years. It provides the company with four times as much accommodation and a purpose-designed interior including four workshops and a drive-in storage facility.

Completion of Zonal’s new facility also gives the green light for production to begin on the company's hotly anticipated i700 touch screen terminal which is expected to drive sales and fuel the company's expansion into new markets in the coming months.

Zonal's Property Director, James McLean, said: "Having a new site designed for purpose will have a major impact on our business because it gives us the flexibility to increase production quickly to fulfil new contracts.

"Manufacturing our own products in the UK has always been an important part of our success and this investment reflects our commitment to continue manufacturing here.

"In this way we know our technologies are consistent in terms of design and specification and we can support them in our customers' businesses, making like for like repairs when necessary without having to introduce regular upgrades or costly new versions.

"Making the whole site carbon neutral is an ambition we have taken extremely seriously and we look forward to seeing how the solar farm works in practice over the coming weeks."

Zonal employs 215 people across five sites including its head office in Edinburgh and sales and training office in Oxfordshire.