Unilever has completed an upgrade to its condiments facility in Burton, UK, doubling the site’s output as part of a £40m ($50.2m) outlay.
A second factory has been built alongside the existing plant, increasing the site’s footprint by 50 per cent, to 31,000 sq m.
The completion of the factory ends a five-year transformation that has brought production of Hellmann’s to the site, which was already producing Marmite, Bovril and Colman’s.
The blow moulding and filling of Hellmann’s 100 per cent recycled plastics squeezy bottles has been incorporated into the production process. Unilever said that localising these aspects of Hellmann’s production and packaging has significantly reduced heavy goods vehicles on the road and travel time from production to shelves, resulting in carbon footprint savings.
With 99 per cent of the products made at Burton distributed to domestic retailers, Unilever claimed the investment will support the continued growth of its food business in the UK.
Investment in digital capabilities has created a highly optimised site across two food factories and nine production lines, the company said. Volume has doubled alongside a purported 13 per cent increase in total factory efficiency at the site in the last three years, it added.
With the final investment complete, Unilever said 2024 is set to be a record year for the factory, with the site producing an average of nine million jars and bottles of condiments a month.
The new factory includes automated production lines using real-time data capture and analysis on the factory shop floor to boost efficiency and minimise waste, the company explained.
There is also a fully automated palletisation process, with two robotic arm palletisers and three top-loading palletiser robots that pack more than 1,000 pallets a day. In addition, 3D-printing machines and capabilities have been brought in-house, so standard machine parts can be replicated and replaced at speed.
With the use of real-time data analysis, food waste at the site is said to have halved since 2021. The remaining waste is redistributed to create energy for the factory via the on-site biogas recycling plant, or as feed for local farm animals.
The investment and growth of the site has also resulted in 160 new jobs at the factory while also supporting current employees to develop new skills in digitised manufacturing. This builds on what Unilever claimed is the site’s 100-year history of supporting local jobs and skills.
“By bringing all our condiment production under one roof and focusing on advancing digital capabilities, we’ve really optimised our supply chain and manufacturing while significantly increasing the site’s capacity,” said Andre Burger, Unilever UK & Ireland Foods lead.
“The investment has already delivered record-breaking growth for the site and will be key in supporting the continued growth of our food business and market-leading brands here in the UK.”
