A BLACKBURN engineering company is bucking the trend of the downturn in manufacturing by breaking into new international markets.

Greenbank Engineering has just completed an order worth more than £2million to supply industrial ovens to Spain.

The last of six ovens is now on its way to a canning factory near Barcelona where it will be used for producing cans for Coca Cola and a Spanish brewery.

Dave Wilkinson, the managing director of Greenbank, said the canning industry represented an important new market for the company.

"Traditionally, we have designed and manufactured ovens for the paper and textile industries," he said. "Targeting a new market has been hard work, but it has paid off. Most of our production is now destined for overseas which has got to be good news for our work-force."

Mr Wilkinson said the company had now supplied 11 ovens for the canning industry, six for Spain, three for Germany and two for Russia. Two more ovens are being built for Russia and discussions were taking place with a canning company in the United States.

The ovens, used for drying the internal coating and external decoration of cans, can each handle a staggering 38 million cans an hour.

Greenbank, now part of the Chadfort Engineering group, has been designing and manufacturing industrial ovens and dryers for more than 40 years.