Unilever’s largest UK food factory in Burton has undergone a significant five-year transformation, bringing production of the full Unilever UK condiments business into one specialist hub in Burton.
With 99 per cent of products made at Unilever’s Burton site distributed to UK retailers, the FMCG major said the investment will support the continued growth of its foods business in the UK with a focus on driving supply chain efficiencies, boosting capabilities and delivering significant production growth at the site.
A second state-of-the-art factory has been built alongside the existing factory, increasing the site’s footprint by 50 per cent to 31,000 sqm and bringing production of Hellmann’s to the site, alongside Marmite, Bovril and Colman’s.
Investment in digital capabilities has created a highly optimised site across two food factories and nine production lines, doubling volume alongside a 13 per cent increase in total factory efficiency at the site in the last three years. With the final investment of the transformation complete this year on a new Hellmann’s production line, 2024 is set to be a record year for the factory, with the site producing an average of 9 million jars and bottles of condiments a month.
Hellmann’s production line at the new Unilever factory at Burton
The new factory includes state-of-the-art machinery and automation, including automated production lines using real-time data capture and analysis on the factory shop floor to boost efficiency and minimise waste, and a fully automated palletisation process, with two robotic arm palletisers and three top loading palletiser robots that pack over 1,000 pallets a day. 3D-printing machines and capabilities have also been brought in-house so standard machine parts can be replicated and replaced at speed.
The investment and growth of the site has resulted in 160 new jobs at the factory whilst also supporting current employees to develop new skills in digitised manufacturing, building on the site’s 100-year history of supporting local jobs and skills.
“The investment in our Burton site and new factory reaffirms the site as a key food hub for British produce, making delicious condiments that are helping to create meals in homes up and down the country every day,” Andre Burger, Unilever UK & Ireland foods lead, said.
“By bringing all our condiment production under one roof and focusing on advancing digital capabilities, we’ve really optimised our supply chain and manufacturing whilst significantly increasing the site’s capacity. 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.
“This investment is a celebration of our history in Burton as well as a commitment to its future. It is testament to the continued commitment and expertise of our teams at the site that its transformation has delivered such incredible growth so quickly.”
In addition to boosting productivity, the investment has accelerated the reduction of the environmental footprint of the site, with a focus on minimising food waste and reducing the carbon footprint of products. The increased use of real-time data analysis at the site has helped to halve the site’s food waste since 2021 with the remaining waste redistributed, including to create energy for the factory via the on-site biogas recycling plant or feed for local farm animals.
The final-stage production of Hellmann’s 100% recycled plastic squeezy bottles – the stage at which the basic recycled plastic material is blown into the full-size distinct Hellmann’s squeezy bottle shape - has been bought onto the site. Localising these aspects of Hellmann’s production and packaging has significantly reduced lorries on the road and travel time from production to shelves, resulting in CO2 savings.
