Capability
One site, six lines, both chains.
Everything below is what the plant does today, not what it could be converted to do. Where a line will not take something, that is on this page as well.
The site
74,000 sq ft, built 1987, extended 2011 and 2019.
6
production lines: 4 chilled, 2 ambient
74,000
square feet, built 1987, extended 2011 and 2019
1,900
cold store pallet spaces at minus 2 °C to plus 4 °C
18,000
tonnes a year, across both chains
Cold store. 1,900 pallet spaces, held at minus 2 °C to plus 4 °C.
Categories
What the lines are set up for.
Chilled
Prepared vegetables
Washed, cut, blanched or raw, packed to weight in trays or catering packs.
Retail trays 200 g to 1 kg. Catering packs 1 kg to 5 kg.
Chilled
Chilled soups and sauces
Cooked, filled hot and chilled down on line. Pourable and spoonable.
Retail pots 300 g to 800 g. Catering packs 2 kg to 5 kg.
Ambient
Ambient pickles and chutneys
Acidified, hot filled, sealed and pasteurised in jar or pouch.
Jars 200 g to 700 g. Catering pouches 1 kg to 3 kg.
Ambient
Cooked pulses
Soaked, cooked and packed in brine or dry-packed under vacuum.
Retail 200 g to 700 g. Vacuum packs 300 g to 3 kg.
Pack formats
Pack sizes and case configurations.
A format that is not on this table has not been run here. Ask anyway: some of them are a tooling change rather than a new line.
| Format | Range | How it ships |
|---|---|---|
| Retail trays | 200 g to 2 kg | Sealed film lid. Cases of 6, 8 or 12. |
| Catering packs | 500 g to 5 kg | Bag in box or lidded pail. Cases of 2, 4 or 6. |
| Multipacks | 4-pack and 6-pack | Collated and over-wrapped on line. |
| Vacuum packs | 300 g to 3 kg | Flat pack, cases of 10. |
Volumes and lead times
The floor is 8,000 units.
Below that a changeover costs more than the run earns, and we would rather say so than quote a number nobody is happy with. A retail line here typically runs 40,000 to 250,000 units a year.
12 weeks
New line. Signed specification to first delivery.
72 hours
Established line. Order to gate, on an order placed before noon.
96 hours
Format change. Same recipe, different pack.
Shifts and people
Who is on site, and when.
Seasonal peak is real and it is planned for. The third shift is the same people on a rota, plus agency labour trained on the line before it is needed rather than on the day.
Shifts
Two, five days, with a third on seasonal peak. Peak runs September to December.
Staff
240, rising to about 310 across the peak.
Storage
1,900 pallet spaces in the cold store and 1,100 pallet spaces ambient, on site.
Order to gate
72 hours on an established line, on an order placed before noon.
Send us the specification.
If it will not run here you will be told which part of it is the problem, and usually what would fix it.