"Although we have been engineering for over 70 years, this is an exciting new venture into electro-mechanical manufacturing." said Mike Blowers. "We helped refine the initial design of the Little Smasher and we are now ramping up production volumes. The project is shaping up to be a great success and we are very pleased to be a part of it."

Smash and Grab is the brainchild of Chris Waldron and Geoffrey Galitzine, Focusing on the licence trade, Smash and Grab install Little Smashers in Public Houses, wine bars, restaurants and hotels and collects the waste glass when required. The benefits to the pub and restaurant managers is the fact that they can massively reduce the space taken up by empty bottles, and also reduce the cost of waste management. In keeping with their overall ethos, Smash and Grab use environmentally friendly vehicles to collect the waste glass for recycling. They currently operate in the London area but expect to roll out their services across the UK. They already have partners installing machines in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland in significant numbers.

"We very much value the engineering support we receive from Ladbrook," said Geoffrey Galitzine. "They are very professional, enthusiastic and conscientious. The Little Smashers that we are rolling out are proving to be very robust and effective."

Each Little Smasher is smaller than a standard catering dishwasher and plugs into a normal mains socket. It can take 15-20 wine and beer bottles, simultaneously, into its top-loaded hopper and smashes them into one fifth of their volume in less than six seconds.

"It's been a good year for Ladbrook," said Mike Blowers. "The Little Smasher is one of several major projects that we've undertaken. Each of these projects is now showing a lot of promise for the future. We've also had the confidence to make a major investment in new manufacturing technology and to take on new staff."